Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on the prospects for peace in Northern Ireland.

Over the past 2 years, Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland have made significant strides toward achieving a fair and lasting peace for their troubled land.

And as one of more than 40 million Irish-Americans, I take great pride in the critically important role that the United States and, in particular, President Clinton is playing in this process.

It was the President's courageous move, in February 1994, to grant a visa to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams that set the wheels of peace in motion.

That step, controversial at the time, was a critical factor in leading to the IRA's unilateral announcement of a cease-fire, 6 months later.

For the first time in 25 years, the threat of violence in Northern Ireland was but a distant and unrealized fear.

The roadblocks, the checkpoints, the house-to-house searches that defaced Northern Ireland for a generation began to disappear.

And, in stark contrast to the past 25 years of sectarian conflict--which claimed 3,000 Catholic and Protestant lives--when the people of Northern Ireland gathered together over the past 2 years it was more often to celebrate and not to grieve another untimely death from the troubles.

The desire for peace among the peoples of Northern Ireland was underscored just this past December, when President Clinton became the first American President to travel to Northern Ireland.

I had the great pleasure of joining the President on this trip.

And I guarantee that regardless of one's political, ethnic or ideological persuasion, it was impossible not to be genuinely moved by the heartfelt reception that the President received.

On several occasions the President was welcomed by crowds of more than 250,000 people, all intent on listening to his message of reconciliation.

This outpouring of support is indicative of the great desire among the majority of Northern Ireland's residents to live in peace with their neighbors.

But, just a month ago, those hopes for peace were dealt a stinging blow by an IRA bomb that rocked London's Docklands district killing 2 people, injuring more than 100 and causing millions of dollars in property damage.

This reprehensible act serves as a nightmarish reminder that the peace process in Northern Ireland is far from complete.

The 17-month cease-fire in Northern Ireland, which made such progress in diminishing the fears and anxieties of violence among millions of Protestants and Catholics, was ripped asunder.

The image of British soldiers patrolling the streets of Belfast--a vision many of us hoped and believed had been banished--disturbingly reappeared on our television screens.

What's more the London bombing threatened to permanently derail the peace process, which has come so far in moving the peoples of Northern Ireland closer to peace than at any time in a generation.

For this reason, I am particularly heartened that at this moment of crisis, both Prime Minister Major and Prime Minister Bruton stepped forward to put Northern Ireland firmly back on the path toward peace.

On February 28, Mr. Major and Mr. Bruton outlined a new proposal for bringing all parties to the peace table by June 10.

Now the two governments are seeking to work out arrangements for a broadly acceptable electoral process that will lead immediately to all party talks in June.

I commend Prime Minister Major for going the extra mile at this critical juncture in the peace process, in part by dropping his precondition that the IRA decommission prior to the commencement of all party talks.

I only regret that British authorities did not see the wisdom of that approach sooner when it was first recommended by Senator Mitchell and the other members of the International Body.

Perhaps if they had, the current escalation in tensions could have been avoided and the parties might already be engaged in substantive talks toward peace.

The actions of Prime Minister Major and Prime Minister Bruton echo the words of the wonderful Irish poet Seamus Heaney, who recently won the Nobel Prize for Literature. In his poem, Station Island, Heaney writes:

You lose more of yourself than you redeem doing the decent thing.

Well Mr. Major and Mr. Bruton did the decent thing and I applaud both of them for their foresight and their vision.

Let me also say that Mr. Major's compromise is commendable in light of the IRA's recent wave of bombing attacks in London. These irresponsible actions have only created confusion and greater animosity in the search for peace.

The IRA's actions eroded goodwill between Catholics and Protestants and threatened to derail what was already a fledgling peace process.

The time is now for the IRA to make clear to all parties in the conflict that they are truly prepared to enter into inclusive all-party negotiations to bring a fair and lasting settlement to the conflict. And, if Sinn Fein is to be an active participant in helping to shape the agenda for all party talks, the IRA must refrain from further violence.

The future of Northern Ireland will not be found in the barrel of a gun. Compromise will not be achieved under the threat of violence. This is a lesson the IRA must understand and accept.

The first step in affirming that commitment would be for the IRA to immediately reinstate the 17-month cease-fire they brazenly and foolishly broke last month.

The second step would be for Sinn Fein to show a greater willingness to compromise on the decommissioning issue.

I think we all recognize the need for Sinn Fein to be at the negotiating table and directly involved in all-party talks.

Thus, we must redouble our efforts in the coming weeks to settle on an elective process that will be broadly acceptable to all parties and which will lead to a lasting peace in Northern Ireland.

I remain optimistic that by March 17, St. Patrick's Day, all the involved parties, working together, will be able to agree upon a fair and comprehensive agenda for all party talks in June.

In order to reach this goal all sides, Catholics and Protestants, Irish and British, must act in good faith in order to smooth the process toward genuine reconciliation.

As an American of Irish descent, the resolution of the conflict in Northern Ireland is of particular significance and importance to me. Both sides of my family immigrated to this country from Ireland.

For me a foreign trip to Ireland is akin to a family reunion.

That is why I am so desperate to see this process succeed and bring a lasting peace to Northern Ireland. And I believe that today we stand on the cusp of a truly new era of peace and reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants.

In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, I am once again reminded of the words of Seamus Heaney:

History says, don't hope on this side of the grave, but then once in a lifetime, the long, far tidal wave of justice can rise up, and hope and history rhyme. So hope for a great sea change on the far side of revenge. Believe that further shore is reachable from here. Believe in miracles and cures and healing wells.

At no time in the history of Northern Ireland have Catholics and Protestants been so close to that point where hope and history rhyme. Together with all involved parties, the American people must stand together with those whose goal is peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

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