Bill Clinton: “President Clinton. Please be seated. Good afternoon. Let me begin as I did this morning, by thanking President Robinson…”

“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.…”