Mr. President, Speaker Pelosi, Governor O'Malley and Distinguished Members of Congress
I am most grateful, Madam Speaker, for your invitation here today.
I thank you for the warmth and grace of your welcome, for your leadership and for your interest in Ireland, where I know you have special family ties.
On behalf of our Government, my colleague Micheal Martin and the Chairman of the Irish Senate, we look forward very much to welcoming you to Ireland soon.
As I walked up the steps of this great Capitol Building, I reflected on the significance of this much cherished tradition begun by your distinguished predecessor, Speaker O'Neill, along with President Reagan, some years ago.
I thought also, Mr. President, of that historic day, just two months ago, when millions watched your Inauguration Ceremony here, and the extraordinary sight of so many people, stretching from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial who wanted to participate in such a moment in this nation's history.
Thank you for your welcome to the White House this morning. Congratulations, Mr. President and thank you for honouring our National Day here on Capitol Hill.
I congratulate also all the Members of the 111th Congress and extend to you our warmest greetings for St. Patrick's Day.
I know you all have a very busy agenda ahead of you - tackling crucial challenges including the economic crisis, healthcare reform and climate change.
I also wish you well in addressing the issue of immigration reform, a subject which is of course of great importance to so many Irish people in this country.
Let me make a particular recognition, Madam Speaker, on St. Patrick's Day, of our most special Irishman, Senator Ted Kennedy.
Ted is in our thoughts and in our prayers, not just on this St Patrick's Day, but every day.
On this day, in these difficult times, I am reminded of other challenging and painful times in our shared history.
Two figures which perhaps best encapsulate that complex past were Daniel O'Connell, known in Ireland as "The Liberator" and Frederick Douglass, born in Governor O'Malley's State of Maryland, who is commemorated just a short distance from here.
O'Connell led the fight for Catholic emancipation in Ireland during the 19th century.
Incidentally, he was also known for his successful organisation of mass rallies, Mr. President.
Writing from Dublin in 1845, Douglass reported that "Mr. O'Connell rose and delivered a speech of about an hour and a quarter long. It was a great speech, skilfully delivered, powerful in its logic, majestic in its rhetoric, biting in its sarcasm, melting in its pathos, and burning in its rebukes."
You will be pleased to know, Madam Speaker that I do not intend to try to emulate Mr. O'Connell today.
I want simply to thank you for all that your country has done for mine and to look forward to many years of friendship ahead.
Here in the United States, in our community, and among our many friends in Congress, we are fortunate indeed to enjoy the friendship and support of so many friends, on both sides of the aisle.
I would like to particularly note the tireless help and constant leadership of our great friend from the State of Massachusetts, the Chairman of the Friends of Ireland, Congressman Richie Neal.
You have all helped us achieve so much political and economic success on our island, North and South.
Nothing symbolises this better than the presence today of our colleagues First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, along with other representatives from Northern Ireland.
Last week, a tiny and evil minority killed two soldiers and a policeman in Northern Ireland.
They sought to destroy the peace we have built together.
They wished to bring down the democratic institutions that the Irish people established, with your support, under the Good Friday Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement.
They did not succeed.
They can not succeed.
They will not succeed.
As you have said, Mr. President, we live in urgent times.
When Frederick Douglass wrote that letter from Dublin, he reported O'Connell's words:
"My sympathy with distress is not confined within the narrow bounds of my own green island.......my heart walks abroad."
I know, here in this place, as public representatives, you work every day for the common good and for the values which we all share.
We know too that, for all who celebrate St. Patrick's Day, your hearts also "walk abroad" as we work together now , and in the future.
In the Irish language, let me wish you all:
Beannachtai La Fheile Phadraig.
Happy St. Patrick's Day.