Bill Clinton: “Well, I'd like to say, first of all, Mr. Speaker , thank you for inviting us here, for a wonderful lunch. We welcome all…”

“Well, I'd like to say, first of all, Mr. Speaker , thank you for inviting us here, for a wonderful lunch. We welcome all of our friends from Northern Ireland and the Republic--[inaudible]--welcome them home. Father, we thank you for your invocation and for the plug for the town of my roots. You should know that after-- I'm convinced that the chamber of commerce there encouraged this, because after the invocation he came over to me and said, ``Don't you ever come back to Ireland without going there.'' [Laughter] So I thank you. Taoiseach, Secretary Albright, Secretary Daley, and to all the Members of Congress. I congratulate Senator Kennedy on his award from the American Ireland Fund. The Speaker said something I'd like to pick up on. You know, normally, at this time of year, for the last several years, John, David, Gerry, Seamus--somebody's come here and thanked some American for supporting the Irish peace process. But the truth is that we should all be thanking you, because it's only when you come here that you bring us all together--[inaudible]--add to that, to your citation. [Laughter] But we're very grateful. Let me also say that we look forward to the day when this will be a total celebration. What a different year we had this year, Taoiseach, because of the Good Friday accords. We're grateful that Senator Mitchell was able to take a leading role--[inaudible]--all you have done.…”