Taoiseach's Speeches Archive 2003
I attended the European Council and the Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels on 12 and 13 December. I was accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen and the Minister for European Affairs, Dick Roche. The Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy attended the European Council meeting.
It is some 30 years since the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974 but that has not diminished the need for answers and clarity about what happened on what was one of the blackest days in our recent history.
May I begin by saying what a pleasure it is to be here today. Under its Director General, Alan Dukes, the Institute of European Affairs is at the very heart of debate on European matters in Ireland.
This is a budget for a strongly growing Irish economy. With our massive decentralisation programme, the Government are going to see that that growth is properly distributed round the country.
I have long had a keen interest in the concept of Social Capital. When I spoke at a Conference on Social Capital in March, 2001 I said I believed that this concept had the potential to play a very positive role in the development and evaluation of public policy.
This Forum has proved itself a major success. Since it was established two years ago, you have provided a cross party and cross community space for debate on the key issues on the European Union agenda. You have examined enlargement, the Treaty of Nice, the future of Europe and the full range of European issues that impact so vitally on all of us in this country. You have handled the debate on these issues in a lucid and transparent manner.
We went to Hillsborough yesterday in the light of the accommodation that appeared to have been reached between the Ulster Unionist Party and Sinn Fein following months of intensive discussion.As I made clear on several occasions prior to yesterday, I did have some concerns and some hesitation particularly in the area which eventually transpired to be the sticking point and that is in regard to the decommissioning of weapons. But I believed, and Prime Minister Blair believed, that we should go to Belfast in the hope and expectation that the deal could be sealed. By any standards, many of yesterday's statements and developments represented a very encouraging day for the peace process in Northern Ireland. Paradoxically, it was also one of the most frustrating.
It is an enormous honour and privilege for me to accept the Award of an Honorary Degree of Laws from Fairfield University. While I humbly and gratefully acknowledge the personal recognition that this Award signifies, I see it also very much in terms of underlining the depth and closeness of the ties that bind our two nations together. Indeed, the nature of those ties will be a recurring theme of what I wish to say to you today on this very special occasion.
An Taoiseach Mr. Bertie Ahern at a Ceremony to mark receipt of the Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights jointly awarded to the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister Mr. Tony Blair MP, (represented by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott MP) at the University of Connecticut
I believe that if we have learned anything in the past fifteen years, it is the lesson that shared understanding of the issues which affect us all and following a pragmatic, problem-solving approach have paid dividends for this small country. The decision to initiate social partnership and its supporting process of engagement has had profound effects on the economic and social destiny of this country.