The president's news conference with President Robinson

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 17, 1996

President Clinton. Please be seated. Good afternoon.

Let me begin as I did this morning, by thanking President Robinson for the extraordinary hospitality that Hillary and I and our entire delegation received in Ireland late last year. I don't know whether it's possible to actually equal Irish hospitality, but we're determined to try. I hope that the President of Ireland feels very much at home and very much admired in America because she certainly is.

Once again, I thank President Robinson for the extraordinary contributions of Irish-Americans to our country, and for the extraordinary contributions of the Irish people not just to their neighbors, but to strangers in need all around the globe.

Over the past 40 years, every single day there has been an Irish citizen working for peace somewhere in the world. More than 40,000 military personnel have worked in U.N. peacekeeping operations. Great sums of money have been expended by a poor country for humanitarian relief. At this very moment, hundreds of Garda and defense forces are serving in nine different countries, from Lebanon and Cyprus to the Western Sahara and Bosnia. As Ireland has grown and progressed and become more prosperous, the generosity and vision of the Irish people have found a wider and wider range of avenues for their expression.

We are very grateful for the thousands of Irish volunteers who are working in places of crisis and suffering all over the world but especially in Rwanda, where President Robinson has shown special concern and special leadership.

President Robinson and I agreed that so many of the problems we face today - terrorism, international organized crime, drugs, environmental decay - have no respect for national borders, and to effectively meet them we have to work together. We discussed our determination especially to work closely with Ireland as it assumes the European presidency so that we can increase our cooperation in the international fight against drugs.

Let me also say I am encouraged at the beginning of the historic negotiations in Belfast toward a just and lasting peace in Northern Ireland. I know how much the people of Northern Ireland want peace. I saw it and felt it for myself last year. I know how hard the people of Ireland have worked to support the peace process in Northern Ireland and the Government of Ireland has worked to support the peace process in Northern Ireland. And I reaffirmed to President Robinson that the United States will continue to do everything we possibly can to help the negotiations along.

Madam President, we're glad to have you in America. We're grateful for you and your country. And the microphone is yours.

President Robinson. Thank you.

Well, I very much welcomed the opportunity to say in more detail to President Clinton how much the support of the United States and the thoughtful friendship that is expressed in so many practical ways and over the past few years has meant to Ireland. I say the past few years because I think it's important to recognize that this is building on a great bond of friendship between our two countries.

But this is a very significant time on the Island of Ireland, and we have a window of opportunity. And the way in which the United States has been supportive and helpful in nurturing peace and reconciliation on the Island of Ireland is of crucial significance.

I look forward to meeting the majority and minority leaders of Congress in order to express, on behalf of the people of Ireland, how much we appreciate the real friendship and concern. And I was glad to be able to refer to the tangible ways in which that has been manifested. If one looks back even over a span of 18 months, the importance of the Washington Conference in May 1995, following the cessation of violence, that there would be a peace dividend, the people would have hope, something to look forward to, the very practical way in which the United States has helped in that regard, the sense of being very much in touch with the complexity, but also the way things are moving forward. And that was so evident during the extremely memorable and historic visit of President Clinton and the First Lady to Ireland at the end of November, beginning of December.

In a relatively short time in Belfast and Derry and Dublin, not only did President Clinton and the First Lady express in very important ways the focus on peace and reconciliation, you in fact gave an opportunity to ordinary people to come out into the street and to demonstrate from the heart how much they wanted sustainable peace. That was part of the huge crowds that came out because you represented somebody who was informed, who was balanced in approach, who was thoughtful, who came from a very powerful country that is engaged in helping us. And we very much appreciate that.

And so, I think this state visit is timely in affording an opportunity to acknowledge and show appreciation on behalf of the people of Ireland. And I do so, of course, in the context of very sensitive and difficult negotiations at the moment. And Senator George Mitchell and his two colleagues are engaged in the process of helping, helping to try to move forward step by step to bring about that peace and reconciliation.