[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 50 (Monday, December 18, 2000)]
[Pages 3072-3076]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the People of Northern Ireland in Belfast

December 13, 2000

    The President. Thank you very much. Let me, first of all, thank 
Prime Minister Blair, First Minister Trimble, Deputy First Minister 
Mallon, for their strong leadership and their kind and generous remarks 
today.
    I am delighted to be with them, Cherie, Mrs. Trimble, my longtime 
friend John Hume; Senator George Mitchell, who is here; the Members of 
the Parliament in Northern Ireland; the Members of the United States 
Congress and the American delegation over here to my right. I thank 
Chris Gibson of the Civic Forum and many others who helped to make this 
day possible. Hillary, Chelsea, and I are delighted to be back in 
Northern Ireland, and here.
    I also can't help noting that this magnificent new arena is new 
since I was last here in '98--a new team, a new sport, a new facility, a 
new Northern Ireland. I want to thank the Belfast Giants for letting us 
use the arena tonight. I understand they don't treat their opponents as 
kindly as me, and I thank them for that. [Applause] Thank you.
    Believe it or not, I actually read in the press this reference that 
said that since I'll be out of work soon--[laughter]--that if I can 
skate and shoot and I'm not very expensive, the Giants would consider 
offering me a position. Well, I'm used to absorbing blows, but that's 
about the only qualification I have. [Laughter] Senator Mitchell, 
however, comes from Maine, where they play hockey all the time, and I 
think you should consider offering him a position. He is very well 
suited for it.
    Let me say to all of you, I have been honored to be involved in the 
quest for peace here for almost 8 years now. It has been not a passing 
interest but a passion for me and my administration and, as many of you 
know, for my family as well. And I want to say a special word of thanks 
to my wife and to the women here in Northern Ireland who have worked 
with her through the Vital Voices program and other things to try to 
make a contribution to the peace.
    I came here 5 years ago for the first time. Now I am back on my 
third visit. No other American President can say that. I want you to 
know that I'm here not just because I have Irish roots, like millions of 
Americans, and not simply because I love the land and the people. I 
believe in the peace you are building. I believe there can be no turning 
back. I believe you are committed to that. And I think it's very 
important that people the world over see what you are doing and support 
you along the way.
    Some of you may know, I left Dublin yesterday, and I had to drive to 
Dundalk for this rally we had last night--and there were one or two 
people there. We had this vast crowd of enthusiastic supporters of the 
peace. And because the weather was too bad for me to helicopter there 
and I drove, apparently, some people thought I was going to drive from 
there to Belfast. So I want to give a special word of thanks to the 
thousands of

[[Page 3073]]

people in Armagh who waited along the road. I'm sorry I wasn't there. If 
I'd known you were there, I would have been there. But thank you for 
supporting the peace process.
    Let me say to the leaders who are here and the others who were 
involved with the development of the Good Friday accord back in 1998, I 
remember it very well. I remember how hard Prime Ministers Blair and 
Ahern, and George Mitchell, and all the leaders here worked on the Good 
Friday accord. I remember time and time again being called, saying that 
this or that problem had arisen and maybe the agreement couldn't be 
reached.
    And just before dawn on Good Friday, when the final momentum was 
building, one of your leaders said to me in a very tired voice--I'll 
never forget it--``This is a life-and-death meeting.'' And then he 
added, ``But we'll make it happen.'' When they did, I remember saying to 
that person, ``Go and claim your moment.''
    That is what I have to say today. After the Good Friday accord was 
reached, the people of Northern Ireland sealed it in an overwhelming 
vote for peace. And so I say, it is still for you to claim your moment.
    Look what has happened: a local government representing all the 
people; everyday problems addressed by local ministers who answer to 
local citizens--across party lines, I might add, as I have personally 
witnessed; an Executive that has adopted a budget and a program of 
government; and along the way, all the sort of messy squabbles and 
fights that you expect in a democracy.
    I mean, look at us; we've been doing it in America for 224 years, 
and as you might have noticed, we still have these minor disagreements 
from time to time. [Laughter]
    I ask you to remember this. The difficulties of sharing power in a 
free, peaceful democratic system are nothing compared to the 
difficulties of not having any power at all or of living with constant 
insecurity and violence. It's easy to overlook that. When people are in 
war, they measure the progress by counting victims. When people are 
involved in peaceful endeavors, it's easy to forget to measure because 
the measurement is in pain avoided.
    How many children are alive today in Northern Ireland because deaths 
from sectarian violence are now a small fraction of what they were 
before the Good Friday accords? How many precious days of normality have 
been----

[At this point, there was a disruption in the audience.]

    The President. Tell you what, I'll make you a deal: I'll listen to 
you if you let me finish. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you.

[The audience interruption continued.]

    The President. I think he rejected the deal. [Laughter] I'll tell 
you what. I'll make you a deal. I'll ignore him if you will. [Applause] 
Thank you.
    How many days of normality have you gained because the checkpoints 
on the border aren't there anymore, because honest people can go to a 
pub or a school or a church without the burden of a search or the threat 
of a bomb? You have spent so many years mourning your losses. I hope you 
will now celebrate with pride and defend with passion the progress you 
have made.
    Just look at this arena here. Ten years ago I'm not sure you could 
have gotten the investment necessary to build this arena or to 
revitalize the entire Laganside area. But over the 5 years just passed, 
as hopes for peace have grown, the economy has grown, manufacturing up 
27 percent, foreign investment almost 70 percent, the number of American 
firms growing from 40 to 100, 22,000 new jobs there alone, more people 
coming in than moving out.
    Once, President Kennedy said that happiness is, I quote, ``the full 
use of your powers along lines of excellence.'' Today, more and more 
young people have a chance to fully use their powers along lines of 
excellence here at home. Of course, there are still challenges, to 
spread opportunity to the most disadvantaged, to integrate into the 
mainstream those who have turned their backs on violence. But bitter, 
old divisions are falling away.
    A few months ago, students from St. Joseph's College and Knockbreda 
High School, who study a half-mile apart, met for the very first time 
and toured the sights of Belfast.

[[Page 3074]]

One of them said, ``I always just saw their school badge but never 
talked to them. But when we met, we got on brilliant.''
    Students from both schools are working with their counterparts from 
Mullingar Community College in the Republic to promote local recycling 
efforts. They're all taking part in Civic Link, an initiative supported 
by the Department of Education in the United States. Give them a hand 
there. [Applause]
    This initiative we have supported through the Department of 
Education, and under your good friend Secretary Dick Riley, it has 
already brought together some 2,000 students and over 70 schools to 
break down barriers, build good will, and live lives based on tolerance 
and mutual respect. So I thank the ones, the students who are here, and 
I hope more will participate.
    Now, amidst all this momentum, why are we having this meeting and 
why are all you showing up here? Because we've still got problems and 
headaches. And I just went through a whole lot of meetings about it.
    Two years ago George Mitchell said that implementing the Good Friday 
agreement would be harder than negotiating it. Why? Well, first, because 
the devil is always in the details, and second, because human nature 
being what it is, it's always easier to talk about high-minded change 
than it is to pull it off, or even to feel it inside.
    In spite of the overwhelming support for the Good Friday agreement 
and the evident progress already brought, opponents of peace still try 
to exploit the implementation controversies, to rub salt in old wounds, 
and serve their own ends. And others, for their own purposes, still 
stand on the sidelines watching and just waiting for something to go 
wrong. Well, I wanted you all to come together, first to show the world 
that the great majority of the people of Northern Ireland are still on 
the side of peace and want it to prevail; second, to say again to the 
proponents of violence that their way is finished; and third, to 
reaffirm, even in this great arena, that peace, unlike hockey, is not a 
spectator sport. No one can afford to sit on the sidelines. The progress 
that the leaders have made has only been possible because they knew when 
they took risks for peace they were acting on the yearning of the people 
for peace.
    For years you have made your view clear: Violence is not the answer; 
peace is the path to justice. The Good Friday accords define that path. 
Last week's tragic killings are a brutal reminder of a past we all wish 
to leave behind that is not completely gone and a sober reminder that 
failing to move forward risks slipping backward.
    As the promises of the Good Friday accords are fulfilled or 
deferred, trust between the parties will rise or fall. We have seen that 
when trust rises and people work together, peace grows stronger, and 
when trust unravels, peace is made more vulnerable.
    The people of Northern Ireland must be clear and unequivocal about 
your support for peace. Remember, the enemies of peace don't really need 
your approval. All they need is your apathy.
    I do not believe you want Northern Ireland ever again to be a place 
where tomorrow's dreams are clouded by yesterday's nightmares. The 
genius of the Good Friday agreement still remains its core principles of 
consent, equality, justice, respect for each other and for law and 
order. These ideas are big enough to embody the aspirations, hopes, and 
needs of all the people of Northern Ireland.
    As I said before, your progress in putting these principles into 
practice has truly been remarkable. But again, we all know there is 
still much to do before the agreement's vision is fully and finally 
realized. We know, for example, there must be a full and irrevocable 
commitment to effecting change only through peaceful means, through 
ballots, not bullets. That means putting all arms fully, finally, and 
forever beyond use. Last week's IRA statement on this topic was a 
welcome development; the followthrough will be even more so.
    We welcome the contribution of those paramilitaries observing a 
cease-fire. Those who reject peace should know there is no place for 
them to hide. Based on my conversations with Prime Minister Ahern in 
Dublin yesterday and with Prime Minister Blair today, I want to say that 
the United States will intensify its cooperation with British and Irish 
authorities on counterterrorism,

[[Page 3075]]

to combat groups seeking to undermine the Good Friday accords through 
violence.
    We are going to get experts from the three nations together in the 
near future, and the United States will continue to work in a systematic 
way to do whatever we can to help to root out terrorism and to make this 
peace agreement take hold.
    Now, we also know that real respect for human rights must be woven 
into the fabric of all your institutions. The light this will cast is 
the best guarantee that political violence will disappear. That's why it 
is so important to have a police force that inspires pride and 
confidence in all the people.
    Just before our gathering here, I met with victims of the violence, 
quite a large number of them who lost their children, their husbands, 
their wives, their limbs, their livelihood. Among them was the widow of 
an RUC officer and the sister of a slain defense attorney. Together, 
they offer the best testimony to the need to honor those who 
unjustifiably sacrificed their lives, their health, or their loved ones. 
We should honor those who have done their duty in the past while making 
a fresh start toward a police service that will protect, serve, and 
involve everyone equally in the years to come.
    Finally, and maybe most important of all, for the vision of the Good 
Friday agreement to be fully realized, all sides must be fully engaged 
with each other, understanding that they must move forward together or 
not at all, that for one community to succeed, the whole community must 
succeed.
    Over the last several hours today, I have talked to the parties. I'm 
convinced they do all genuinely want this peace process to work. They 
know how far it has come. They know how irresponsible it would be to 
permit it to fail. On the basis of our discussion, it is clear to me 
that's what must happen to move the process forward. First, the Patton 
Report must be implemented, and on that basis leaders from every part of 
the community must commit to make the new police service work.
    There must be security normalization, and arms must be put beyond 
use. This will lead to a reduction of fear and mistrust on all sides. 
And somehow these processes must take place together, giving practical 
effect on the ground to the rhetorical promise of peace.
    I think we can do this. Of course, it will be difficult. But I urge 
the parties, the political parties here, the British and Irish 
Governments, the communities themselves, to work out the way forward in 
the coming days and weeks. And we will do all we can to help.
    I have said before to all of you--I did 2 years ago when I was 
here--how profoundly important peace in Northern Ireland is to the rest 
of the world.
    This morning, when I got up, I saw the Prime Minister of Ethiopia on 
television, discussing the agreement the United States helped to broker 
there, between Ethiopia and Eritrea. I have been heavily involved in the 
Middle East for 8 years now and in many of the tribal conflicts in 
Africa, in a little understood border conflict in the Andes, and many 
other places. And let me tell you, you cannot imagine the impact of the 
Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland on troubled regions of the 
world--in Africa and the Middle East, in Latin America and, of course, 
in the Balkans, where the United States has been heavily involved in my 
time. Peace continues to be challenged all around the world. It is more 
important than ever to say, but look what they did in Northern Ireland, 
and look what they are doing in Northern Ireland.
    In the end, there has to be a belief that you can only go forward 
together, that you cannot be lifted up by putting your neighbor down. 
You know, I think--and I talk in the United States about this a lot--our 
children will live in a completely different world than the one we have 
known. Just for example, because of the human genome project, which is 
going to give us cures for many kinds of cancers--Parkinson's, 
Alzheimer's, and more important, will give mothers bringing little 
babies home from the hospital, roadmaps of their children's genetic 
makeup and future--very soon, life expectancy in places with decent 
health systems will be over 90 years. And the lives of the young people 
in this audience, I am convinced, average life expectancy will rise to 
100 years.
    You will see new sources of energy tapped and new conservation 
technologies developed that will enable human beings for the

[[Page 3076]]

first time both to increase wealth and to reduce energy use and global 
warming, ensuring a longer future on this planet for the great-
grandchildren of the youngest people in this audience today. You will be 
able to, you young people, travel farther and faster through outer space 
and cyberspace even than people can today. The world will be so 
different for you.
    Now, I think the children of Northern Ireland deserve their fair 
chance to be a full part of that future. I believe the people of 
Northern Ireland want that for their children, and that means the 
leaders of Northern Ireland must find a way to do what is necessary to 
give that future to your children.
    You know, this is the last chance I will have as President to speak 
to the people of Northern Ireland. Let me say to all of you that I have 
tried to be pretty straightforward today in my remarks and not nearly as 
emotional as I feel. I think you know that I have loved this land and 
love the work I have tried to do for peace. But the issue is not how I 
feel; it's how your kids are going to live.
    I say to all of you, it has been a great honor for me; it has been 
an honor for the United States to be involved in the cause of peace in a 
land that produced the forbearers of so many of present-day America's 
citizens. I believe that the United States will be with you in the 
future. I know I will be with you in the future in whatever way I can.
    But in the end, I will say again, what really matters is not what 
America does, and what really matters is not even all the encouragement 
you give to people around the world. What really matters is what you do 
and whether you decide to give your children not your own yesterdays but 
their own tomorrows.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 4:06 p.m. at the Odyssey Arena. In his 
remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, 
and his wife, Cherie; First Minister David Trimble of Northern Ireland 
and his wife, Daphne; John Hume, member, Social Democratic and Labor 
Party; former Senator George J. Mitchell, who chaired the multiparty 
talks in Northern Ireland; Chris Gibson, chairperson, Civic Forum; Prime 
Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland; Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon of 
Northern Ireland; and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia. The 
transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included 
the remarks of Prime Minister Blair, First Minister Trimble, and Deputy 
First Minister Mallon. A tape was not available for verification of the 
content of these remarks.