[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 50 (Monday, December 18, 2000)]
[Pages 3067-3068]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reception Hosted by Prime Minister Ahern in Dublin

December 12, 2000

    Thank you very, very much. First, let me say to the Taoiseach, I am 
delighted to be back in Ireland, glad to be with him and Celia, glad 
that Hillary and Chelsea and I could all come together at once. We've 
all been here, sometimes together, sometimes at different times. I thank 
you for your friendship and the work we have done. I thank your 
predecessors who are here and all the members of the Dail. I thank the 
ministers of the Government and Members of our Congress who are here, 
and the citizens of Ireland.
    I have often wondered how I got involved in all this. [Laughter] I 
have pondered all these deep explanations. For example, less than a 
month ago we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the White House. And 
you may know that America's most famous home was designed by an Irish 
architect named James Hoban, who defeated an anonymous design presented 
by Thomas Jefferson. [Laughter] Maybe there's something in Hoban's 
spirit in the house that infected me.
    In the Oval Office of the President on the mantle, there is a 
beautiful ivy plant which has been there for almost 40 years now. It was 
given to President Kennedy by the then-Irish Ambassador to the United 
States as an enduring sign of the affection between our two people. 
Maybe I got the political equivalent of poison ivy. [Laughter]
    When I started coming here, you know, I got a lot of help in rooting 
out my Irish ancestry. And the oldest known homestead of my mother's 
family, the Cassidys, that we've been able to find is a sort of mid 18th 
century farmhouse that's in Rosleigh and Fermanagh. But it's right on 
the--literally right on the border. And in my family, all the Catholics 
and Protestants intermarried, so maybe I was somehow genetically 
prepared for the work I had to do. [Laughter] Maybe it's because there 
are 45 million Irish Americans, and I was trying to make a few votes at 
home. [Laughter] The truth is, it just seemed to be the right thing to 
do.
    America has suffered with Ireland through the Troubles, and even 
before. And we seemed paralyzed and prevented from playing a 
constructive role when I became President. I decided to change America's 
policy in the hope that, in the end, not only the Irish but the British, 
too, would be better off. I think it is unquestionable, after 8 years of 
effort, thanks to the people and the leaders of Northern Ireland, of the 
Republic, and of Great Britain, that the people of Ireland and the 
people of Britain are better off for the progress that has been made 
toward peace.
    So when the Taoiseach and our friends in Northern Ireland, the 
leaders of the parties, and the British Prime Minister asked me to come 
back to Ireland one more time, Hillary and Chelsea said, yes--
[laughter]--and I said a grateful yes.
    I also want to say to all of you, with reference to the comments 
Bertie made about the Irish economy, I think every one of you that has 
played any role in the remarkable explosion of economic opportunity in 
Ireland and the outreach and impact you're having beyond the borders of 
your nation, is also a part of the peace process, because you have shown 
the benefits of an open, competitive, peaceful society.
    And nobody wants to go back to the Troubles. There are a few hills 
we still have to climb, and we'll figure out how to do that, and I hope 
that our trip here is of some help toward that end. But as long as the 
people here, as free citizens of this great democracy,

[[Page 3068]]

and as long as their allies and friends in the North increasingly follow 
the same path of creating opportunities that bring people together 
instead of arguments that drive people apart, then the political systems 
will follow the people.
    So it is very important that all of you recognize that whatever you 
do, whether you're in politics or not, if you are contributing to the 
present vitality of this great nation, you are helping to make the peace 
hold. And for that, I am very grateful.
    Let me just say in closing, when I started my involvement with the 
Irish peace process, to put it charitably, half the political experts in 
my country thought I had lost my mind. [Laughter] In some of the all-
night sessions I had making phone calls back and forth over here through 
the whole night, after about the third time I did that, to put it 
charitably, I thought I had lost my mind. [Laughter] But I can tell you 
that every effort has been an honor. I believe America has in some tiny 
way repaid this nation and its people for the massive gifts of your 
people you have given to us over so many years, going back to our 
beginnings. I hope that is true.
    For me, one of the things I will most cherish about the 8 years the 
American people were good enough to let me serve as President is that I 
had a chance to put America on the side of peace and dignity and 
equality and opportunity for all the people in both communities in 
Northern Ireland, and for a reconciliation between the North and the 
Republic. I don't know how I happen to have such good fortune, and even 
though it gave me a few more gray hairs, I'm still grateful that I did.
    Good luck. Stay with it, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 2 p.m. in the Arrol Suite at the Guinness 
Storehouse. In his remarks, he referred to Celia Larkin, who accompanied 
Prime Minister Ahern; and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United 
Kingdom. The transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary 
also included the remarks of Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.