Mr. Richard Neal:

Let me begin by thanking the Seanad for this generous invitation. This is the rarest of opportunities that a person from another country might get to enjoy. I thank the Cathaoirleach, Senator Mark Daly, in particular for, as he described, his work with legislative bodies across the country so that we may well create the next generation of the Friends of Ireland. We are reminded on this occasion of why the Friends of Ireland was brought about. We agreed to stop the gun running in America in places like the cities we all come from such as Boston, Springfield, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Pittsburgh, and the UK decided to get serious about finding a solution to the North.

When on 2 February, 1880, the great Irish nationalist parliamentarian, Charles Stewart Parnell, took to his feet in the United States Capitol to address the joint Houses of Congress, he became one of the first non-American political leaders to be granted this rare honour. This moment reflected the special ties that bound Ireland and America at a time when the Irish-born population of the United States was at its peak. In thanking the people of America for their unyielding support for Ireland, Parnell expressed pride in his American heritage, which was acquired through his mother. I stand here today as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, imbued with a deep sense of pride in my heritage, brought forward from forbears who crossed the Atlantic to make new lives for themselves on our continent. Not to mention, incidentally, the first chairman of the Ways and Means Committee was named Fitzsimons and he was an Irish immigrant. In the decades following Ireland's Great Hunger, millions of Irish immigrants transformed America. Lifting shovels, bringing down hammers, and building canals, they helped to make America a world power. In return, Irish immigrants and their descendants helped to take Ireland on its way to independence.

Parnell was not the only Irish public figure to make his way to America in the decades prior to the emergence of the Irish Free State, the centenary of which we mark this year with all of you. Douglas Hyde, who went on to become the first President of Ireland, visited my home place of Springfield where he described one of the Irish-speaking hosts as the finest Irishman he had encountered anywhere. On the first page of Fintan O'Toole's new book, on page one, he mentions the people of Springfield. Yesterday, we relived that opportunity on the Blasket Islands. In my constituency there is one person still living who had lived on the Blaskets. Our visitors today from the congressional delegation, Representatives Kevin Brady, Ron Kind, Mike Kelly, Mike Doyle, David Joyce, Mary Gay Scanlon, Dan Kildee and Vern Buchanan are only removed by one or two generations from this island.My colleagues on the congressional delegation and I are delighted to be back in Ireland to reconnect with friends and relatives after a difficult couple of years with the pandemic disrupting all of our lives. It was a joy to have been with the Taoiseach in Washington, as it was again yesterday, for a meeting that lasted more than an hour to discuss the challenges we now confront again. It was a bold moment for such a small country to receive an audience on St. Patrick's Day with the President of the United States, Members of the Houses of Congress and to be at the centre of the American stage.

I am joined this week by these Members of Congress who have a long-standing commitment to deepening the ties between our two countries and protecting the precious peace that our country helped supply the background for 24 years ago. I know something about that agreement. I helped to urge Bill Clinton and George Mitchell to take it up and it has been successful beyond anybody's imagination.

Just as Parnell in 1880 paid tribute to Americans for their support for Ireland, let me acknowledge and pass on congratulations for Ireland's unwavering stance on Ukraine. Ireland has pushed back hard on Russia's brutal aggression, supported unprecedented stiff sanctions and extensive EU military assistance to Ukraine. I know Ireland has also given shelter to almost 30,000 Ukrainians who have fled their war-torn homeland. Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine has served to underline and reinforce the democratic values that unite Americans and Europeans who now stand together in determined opposition to the tyranny unleashed by Putin's Russia. In Brussels, we heard the same message. The Europeans intend to stand with America and our allies across the globe to push back on this challenge.

As we convene here today in this marvellous setting, I recognise that this worrying and uncertain time also occurs in Northern Ireland. We are here to listen to the views of political leaders in Dublin and tomorrow we move on to Belfast for two very serious days with all the political parties. We want to meet with people so that we can understand how the fallout from the UK's decision to leave the EU has affected all of them and us. The message we will bring is firm, clear and unambiguous. The number one priority for the United States on this island is to ensure that the hard-won peace in Northern Ireland is preserved and reinforced. It was apparent to us during our visit to Brussels that the EU and Ireland's neighbours in Europe remain equally strong in their commitment to Northern Ireland. They have time and again demonstrated their support for the Good Friday Agreement, as have all the parties in the Irish Republic, unreservedly. I am pleased that Ireland continues its engagement.

While I of course respect the UK's decision to leave the European Union, it has inevitably posed unprecedented challenges for the island of Ireland. I hope we can all focus on this because I think we are losing institutional memory in the UK. A grim reminder is that 30 years ago there were 30,000 British soldiers in an area the size of our state of Connecticut. Anybody who travelled there knew clearly what the watchtowers meant and what the Royal Ulster Constabulary, RUC, meant in that small geographic area. The longest standing political dispute in the history of the western world was proceeding unabated in the Six Counties of Northern Ireland.

Through good work and goodwill, we helped to find a path forward. We have found solutions time and again to short-term disruptions. Now it is the protocol. A solution through an extended set of negotiations on Northern Ireland and Ireland can be enhanced. Any incautious move to undo the protocol, which was agreed to by all sides to address these issues, would put at risk this durable agreement that we helped to create and which now we should all be celebrating. On the eve of the 25th year of the Good Friday Agreement, everything in our power to protect the unrelenting gains should be acknowledged. In the context of the moment, the way forward is the same as it has been. We need courage, dialogue and leadership from all sides to keep Northern Ireland secure and prosperous. The Good Friday Agreement worked because it had something in it for all sides. It happened because those involved acted together in good faith and the hardest men and women had to make that agreement. Everybody gave up something to agree to this place. The Republic of Ireland relinquished Articles 2 and 3 of its Constitution, which laid claim, at the request of de Valera, to the North. The UK gave up the Border. The world was a witness to these proceedings. Unilateral actions, intransigence and ultimatums are not solutions, nor have they ever been. America will continue to nudge and nurture this agreement. After all, the Good Friday Agreement is America's too.

I have no doubt that my ancestors, who instilled a deep and emotional connection to this country, would be proud of the Ireland we have seen this week. A strong, prosperous and confident Ireland has firmly found its place on the world stage and used its voice, as always, to stand up for the less fortunate. While Ireland has been remade in recent decades as an open, tolerant and prosperous country, our immigrant ancestors would be heartened to see that its traditional character and distinctive identity remain intact. The welcome Ireland has extended to the Ukrainians confirms, through solidarity and compassion, that the people of Ireland have not forgotten our own history. Leaving one's homeland is a deeply painful experience. For those who depart the communities that were left behind, Irish America carries the memory of that experience. However, the past does not define us. What defines us is how we and so many other immigrant communities have helped to build America and make it the great country it is today.

Representative democracy does not have to mean uniformity. From the skyscrapers of Manhattan to the mines of Montana, our nation's infrastructure bears an indelible Irish imprint. That Irish influence is felt in many parts of American life, including in politics, business, education, media and, of course, law enforcement. Those are just a few of the areas in which Irish Americans have excelled. The heritage of this congressional delegation, as I noted earlier, along with that of President Biden, epitomises the Irish contribution to government in America. They made that journey across the Atlantic. Families such as the Finnegans, the Blewitts, the Kennedys, the Garveys, the Wards, the Harts and the Neals could scarcely have imagined what an impact their descendants would make in their adopted land.

In the years leading up to 1922, many of my predecessors in Congress did their utmost to advance the Irish question at the highest levels of the United States Government. In the century since Ireland's independence, this tradition of Irish-American concern for Ireland has been maintained. Successive generations of Irish-American political leaders have stood by Ireland in good times and troubled ones. Irish-Americans were instrumental in encouraging the US involvement in Northern Ireland throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The great man John Hume visited America to say it was worth it. His visits helped to shape that success story. It created a very important condition for peace in Northern Ireland: the American dimension. That push led to the founding of the Friends of Ireland 40 years ago. The Friends and I have the honour of co-chairing the unique bipartisan support for the Good Friday Agreement that has flowed from it. Half of our delegation are Republicans and the other half are Democrats. At a time when it is hard for us to find agreement on a lot of issues, we have found agreement, as always, on Ireland. We introduced a credible and independent voice that helped to pave the way for the Good Friday Agreement. I am proud that much of my career in foreign policy has been based upon my interest in this achievement. One of my first speeches in the House of Representatives, a few years ago, condemned the use of rubber bullets in the North of Ireland. My own heritage compelled me to do what I could but many of the people I represent in Springfield would tell the same story. It was that story for all of our Congress Members who were trying to conjure up a path to peace that was bolstered by American communities all over the countries and who kept the fortunes of Ireland close to their hearts and at the top of their minds.

Our visit here is part of that tradition. As before, representatives from both sides of the aisle are putting their differences aside to help bridge the gaps between the communities on this island. We are here to listen, to speak and to bring the message to and from Washington that peace needs undying commitment and dedication to achieving positive outcomes. We know how important the United States has been in helping the parties in the North carve out a path to a better future for all. We are committed to staying the course and keeping the North on that path of peace and prosperity. I look forward, in the next two days, to visiting once again the old Border. I have been involved for so long that I can remember the dark days. I recall crossing that Border either in 1989 or 1990 with the then Speaker of the House, Tom Foley, from Donegal to Derry. Our bus was stopped by a British Army patrol and we were obliged to wait in the vehicle while it was subjected to a thorough search by armed soldiers with night vision equipment and heavy armaments. I have far fonder memories of crossing that Border with Speaker Pelosi in 2019. When we moved across the Border from Derry to Donegal and back again, to make the moment, our phones pinged. That tells the story. The contrast between then and now could not have been starker.

No one wants to return to a time when a Border control across the island divided its people. That is why the EU-UK protocol is so important and why its implementation needs to be the subject of a negotiated agreement and not unilateral action.