Transcript of Speaker Pelosi’s Remarks at Annual Friends of Ireland Luncheon
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi hosted the Annual Friends of Ireland Luncheon with President Joseph R. Biden in the Rayburn Room. Below are the Speaker's remarks:
Speaker Pelosi. Good afternoon, everyone. Mr. President, it is a high honor and a distinct privilege to welcome you to the United States Capitol for our Friends of Ireland Luncheon. We are saddened that the Taoiseach could not be here – and Taoiseachs of Ireland have been the traditional participation in this lunch over the years – but we know that he is with us in spirit, and we send him bicameral and bipartisan greetings.
Leader – yes. Leader McCarthy is here and from the – Senate – Leader McCarthy. And from the Senate – Pat Leahy among others, but he is our senior Member. His mother is Italian, his father is Irish, so he shows up at everything.
[Laughter]
Okay, so here's what – we gathered, participants – this is a cherished occasion for us. It is a tradition that was started by Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan, when Ronald Reagan was President. In the first year, it was just the President and the Speaker, as it is now. But in the years that followed the Taoiseach was an important special guest. And you might be interested to know, Mr. President, that when Tip O'Neill had the first luncheon, he invited sixteen Members – twelve of them from Massachusetts.
[Laughter]
President Biden. The next year I got invited.
[Laughter]
Speaker Pelosi. And then you came in the next year, okay.
The next year, you were proudly joined by the Taoiseach Garrett FitzGerald. And each year since, again, that has been how we have celebrated the Feast of Saint Patrick. We're grateful to the Friends of Ireland Caucus led by co-Chair Richie Neal. Where are we, Richie? Mike Kelly. Where's Pat? David Joyce – where's David? David Joyce, thank you.
[Applause]
Again, bipartisan, bicameral. This – we're, we're especially grateful to be celebrating the Feast of Saint Patrick with an Irish American President of the United States.
[Applause]
The precious ties between our two nations are very strong, as you know. And even though the Speaker of the House is not Irish – Italian American – I've never had Irish grandparents, but I do have Irish grandchildren.
[Applause]
Sean, Ryan and Liam. And again, they are just an example of the millions of bonds between our two countries of Irish Americans.
And that future of our country is strengthened by America's – I mean, talk about the firm commitment to our future. It's, it's enhanced by Irish Americans. The Irish Americans have fought in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, have built our country in so many ways. I don't need to go into, you all know it – it's the stories of your life. And always to make a peaceful, beautiful future for America. I do want to say that in our shared history, peace has been a focal point – and last night, I mentioned the Good Friday Accords as a part of peace in our time.
[Applause]
I spoke about it last night because I had the privilege of being on a number of CODELs to Ireland, to Northern Ireland as well. And many of us who visited Northern Ireland in the ‘90s saw at the border, tanks, soldiers, Union Jacks, barbed wire and the rest. And those of us who went recently to observe the anniversary of the Good Friday Accord saw a completely different situation at the border. Just a yellow line turning into a white line, making the distinction between Northern and Southern – Northern Ireland and Ireland.
What was interesting, Mr. President, at that time – the Speaker at Stormont – he gave a big reception for us all children, all children – high school-aged children. And two of them spoke – one Catholic, one Protestant – and they both had the same message. They said that they – who had never known conflict – they made it clear they weren't going back. Nearly two generations of children living in peace.
Again, we're sorry that Taoiseach could not be with us today. I commended him last night, and I just want to say if he were here. What I said last night, that we – I had the privilege of giving him and the Ambassador – distinguished Ambassador accepted on his part and gave his rousing speech.
Thank you, Mr. Ambassador. He was – oh, and the British Ambassadors here as well.
[Applause]
And the Irish Ambassador.
[Applause]
I said at the time, of the Taoiseach, that the world has been awed by his handling of the pandemic – because he'd had a lifetime of, of leadership in terms of public health. His handling of the economy of Ireland – especially during the difficult times of Brexit. His reinvigoration of the government focus on housing and health care – health care being a focus in his public life. And his unyielding belief in the power of education for the Irish children, and we saluted him for Irish – Ireland's very important role in promoting peace in Ukraine. Peace in Ukraine.
Now in the spirit of peace, and in our nation's long-time partnership, let us hear a blessing offered by Reverend Thomas O'Connor of Our Lady of Glass – Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham, Massachusetts. Is that your parish?
Reverend O'Connor. Everything is my parish.
[Laughter]
Speaker Pelosi. Reverend O'Connor.
***
Speaker Pelosi. Do you think Father has kissed the Blarney Stone?
[Laughter]
Hey, hey, hey. Oh, he hasn't even been to Ireland yet. Well, Father, I've been to Ireland. I've spoken to the Dáil. That's a pretty a big honor, yes, to talk about the children – and when Ronald Reagan came to speak at that first luncheon, he talked about the children. He said, ‘America has been blessed by her Irish children.' And one of those Irish children is now the President of the United States.
[Applause]
My wish for all of you is that you could have been there last night. And – well many of you were – to hear the President take pride in his Irish American heritage. He made us cry – almost – he made us laugh in our hearts and he made us think, he made us think about what America is and what American – what the Irish community means to our great country.
And we could see how this great President came to be, as a person who understands the beautiful diversity of our country – as I've said, because he respects his own heritage. He understands how we accept – we respect our own heritage as well. And he understands the dignity and worth of all people, because his Irish heritage in his case was accompanied by deep Catholic faith.
Talks about his mother and father quite a bit, and it keeps – no – ‘keeps the faith, spread the faith, right?' That's your mom. That's your mom.
So again, I think of another Irish president when I think of President Biden – and I've told him this. When I was young, I was in school and I was – attended the Kennedy inauguration. Many of you've heard me say this, and everybody in the world practically – but certainly in our country – ever since knows what President Kennedy said about, 'Ask not' – to citizens of America – ‘Ask not what America can do for you.' You know that, that whole sentence.
But the very next sentence – and I say this to the President – the very next sentence, President Kennedy made this statement, thinking of Joe Biden. 'To the citizens – to the people of the world, ask not what America can do for you but what we can do working together for the freedom of mankind.' And that is exactly what our President is doing. Working together, with respect for everyone, other countries – not in any condescending way or anything, but in a respectful collaboration. That sentence was made for you, Mr. President, at this time.
When we were, many of us in, in Munich – to the Security Conference – we heard leaders of countries and foreign ministers, defense ministers, but heads of state. Right? You're shaking your head.
Say, thank you, for your President, for bringing us together. For reinforcing the transatlantic alliance and then even beyond that and for helping us work together to help the people of Ukraine in a way that is unifying and not dictating.
And so again with great pride, it is my pleasure to bring one of America's children that God has blessed us with – the President of the United States.
[Applause]
***
Speaker Pelosi. As the President has to make a clean exit to go back to work, I wanted all of us to lift our glass to toast to the President on this Saint Patrick's Day. Mr. President, this is a toast that I learned from my grandchildren – as I've said it to our colleagues here before, and it goes like this. It's an Irish toast:
Sing as if no one can hear you.
Dance as if no one can see you.
Love as if you've loved never loved before, and
Live as if heaven is on Earth.
So, when I said to them, ‘Is that a toast that is a tradition in the Kenneally family? They say no, 'That's a sign that is in the Shannon Airport.'
[Laughter]
To the President, happy –
President Biden. Thank you.
Speaker Pelosi.Thank you, Mr. President. Happy Saint Patrick's Day.
***
Speaker Pelosi. Before I introduce them, I want you – I got this message this morning from Bono. Most of us, always – whether we're in Ireland or here, wherever it is, Bono has been a very Irish part of our lives. And he said this, he said:
Oh Saint Patrick he drove out the snakes
With his prayers but that's not all it takes.
For the snake symbolizes
An evil that rises
And hides in your heart
As it breaks.
And the evil has risen my friends
From the darkness that lives in some men.
But in sorrow and fear
That's when saints can appear
To drive out those old snakes once again.
And they struggle for us to be free
From the psycho in this human family.
Ireland's sorrow and pain
Is now the Ukraine
And Saint Patrick's name is now Zelenskyy.
[Applause]
What – you like that, Father?
[Laughter]
It's all yours.
Now are we ready? Are we ready? We are ready. Okay, we are ready to welcome the Riverdance 25thAnniversary show, straight here in the Capitol of the United States. Riverdance!