President Obama's Air Force One
jet landed at Belfast International Airport shortly before 9am this morning,
arriving in Northern Ireland with his wife Michelle and their two daughters
Sasha, and Malia.
Obama and his family made their
way to the Waterfront Hall in Belfast City Centre to speak to an invited
audience of 2,000, the majority of which were young people, touching on
Northern Ireland's peace process.
He was greeted by First Minister
Peter Robinson and his deputy Martin McGuiness on his first visit to the country.
16 year old Hannah Nelson, a
Belfast student opened proceedings at the Waterfront Hall.
She was invited to the event,
after the US Consulate was so impressed with a piece of writing of hers, entitled,
‘How to make peace permanent in Northern Ireland’.
‘Permanent peace, in our country
is not just a simple dream for me as a teenager growing up in Northern Ireland.
It is a sincere, genuine aspiration’, she began.
‘I believe that enduring peace
can only come about through true respect for others’.
‘As a 16 year old, I don’t want
to live in the past. I want to live for the future’.
‘I want to live in a country
where it is not my religion that is important, but my value as a person that is
significant’.
‘We must accept our differences
to move forward’.
‘Northern Ireland is my home. The
reality is; it has a past. We should not let the past pull us apart and stop us
moving forward. We need to clearly value each other’.
‘Northern Ireland is my home. The
reality is; it has a future’.
As she finished, the crowd gave
her a rapturous round of applause, which continued as she introduced the First
Lady, Michelle Obama.
Michelle Obama hugged Belfast
teenager Hannah Nelson on the Waterfront stage and thanked the teenager for her
‘bold and wonderful introduction’.
Mrs Obama described the young
audience as the ones who will be in charge in a few years.
‘I don't just see a bunch of
teenagers, I see the people who will be moving our world forward in the years
ahead’.
‘Standing with all of you today,
I have never felt so optimistic’.
‘We are so proud of you, we
expect great things’.
As she closed her own speech, she
introduced the man that everyone wanted to see; The President of the United
States.
‘Hello Belfast. Hello, Northern Ireland’. A
simple greeting from the President of the United States.
President Obama said he had
always wanted to visit Northern Ireland, describing it as a place of ‘remarkable
beauty and extraordinary history’.
Speaking of his own Irish
ancestry and that of many others, he said Northern Ireland was ‘part of an
island with which tens of millions of Americans share an eternal relationship’.
President Obama said that during
his visit to Moneygall, County Offaly, two years ago, he met his eighth cousin,
Henry - known affectionately as Henry the Eighth.
‘America's story, in part, began
right outside the doors of this gleaming hall. 325 years ago, a ship set sail
from the River Lagan for the Chesapeake Bay, filled with men and women who
dreamed of building a new life in a new land’, the President recalled.
‘They, followed by hundreds of
thousands more, helped us write those early chapters. They helped us win our
independence. They helped us draft our constitution’.
‘Our histories are bound by blood
and belief; by culture and commerce. And our futures are equally, inextricably
bound together as well. That's why I've come to Belfast today - to talk about
the future we can build together’.
‘Many of the qualities that we
Americans hold dear we imported from this land, perseverance and faith, an
unbending belief that we make our own destiny, and an unshakable dream that if
we work hard and live responsibly, something better lies just around the bend’,
Obama added.
Mr Obama said to the Belfast
audience: ‘There was a time people couldn't have imagined Northern Ireland
hosting a gathering of world leaders, as you are today’.
‘Belfast is a different city.
Once-abandoned factories are rebuilt. Former industrial sites are reborn.
Visitors come from all over to see an exhibit at the MAC, a play at the Lyric,
or a concert here at Waterfront Hall’.
‘Families crowd into pubs in the
Cathedral Quarter to hear ‘trad’. Students lounge at cafés, asking each other, ‘What's
the craic’?
On the transformation brought
about by the peace process, President Obama said; ‘To paraphrase Seamus Heaney,
it's the manifestation of sheer, bloody genius. This island is now chic’.
He declared peace in Northern
Ireland a ‘blueprint’ for those living amid conflict around the world, while
acknowledging that the calm between Catholics and Protestants will face further
tests.
‘It has been 15 years since the
Good Friday Agreement; since clenched fists gave way to outstretched hands; since
the people of this island voted in overwhelming numbers to see past the scars
of violence and mistrust, and choose to wage peace’.
Speaking about the ancestors of
the audience, he said how they had dreamed of a better future for Northern
Ireland. ‘They hoped for a day when the world would think something different
when they heard the word Belfast. And because of their courage, that day has
come, because of their efforts, those dreams they had for you became the most
incredible thing of all. They became real’.
‘If there's one thing on which
Democrats and Republicans in America wholeheartedly agree, it's that we
strongly support a peaceful and prosperous Northern Ireland’, he said.
‘But as all of you know well, for
all the strides you've made, there's still much work to do. There are still
people who haven't reaped the rewards of peace; who aren't convinced that the
effort is worth it’.
‘There are still wounds that
haven't healed and communities where tension and mistrust hangs in the air.
There are walls that still stand; there are still miles to go’.
‘But that doesn't mean our
efforts to forge a real and lasting peace must come dropping slow. This work is
as urgent now as it has ever been’.
Speaking about people living in
conflict areas of the world, he described how they are looking to the Irish
peace process for hope and inspiration. ‘You are their blueprint to follow. You
are their proof of what's possible. Hope is contagious; they are watching to
see what you do next’.
Paying tribute to Northern
Ireland's political leaders, President Obama said, ‘As someone who knows
first-hand how politics can encourage division and discourage co-operation, I
admire the Northern Ireland Executive and the Northern Ireland Assembly all the
more for making power-sharing work’.
However, President Obama understood
that problems cannot be solved simply by Politics. ‘Peace is not just about
politics. It’s about attitudes’.
‘Our Civil War was far shorter
than the Troubles, but it killed hundreds of thousands of our people, and the
legacy of slavery endured for generations. Even a century after we achieved our
own just and lasting peace, we were not fully united’.
‘When I was a boy, many cities
still had separate drinking fountains and lunch counters and washrooms for
blacks and whites. My own parents' marriage would have been illegal in certain
states’.
‘Still, over time, laws changed,
and so did hearts and minds, driven sometimes by courageous lawmakers, but more
often by committed citizens’.
‘Whether you take a stand against
violence and hatred, and tell extremists on both sides that no matter how many
times they attack the peace, they will not succeed, that's in your hands. Whether
you reach your own outstretched hand across dividing lines, across peace walls,
to build trust in a spirit of respect; that's up to you’.
Speaking directly to the young people, Obama summoned them to
take responsibility for their country's future and warned there is ‘more to lose
now than there's ever been’.
‘The terms of peace may be negotiated by political leaders,
but the fate of peace is up to each of us’.
Acknowledging the reality of a sometimes-fragile peace,
Obama recalled the Omagh bombings that killed 29 people and injured hundreds
more.
‘Peace will be tested again’.
‘Whenever your peace is attacked, you will have to choose
whether to respond with the same bravery that you've summoned so far or whether
you succumb to the worst instincts, those impulses that kept this great land
divided for too long. You'll have to choose whether to keep going forward, not
backward’, he added.
‘If towns remain divided - if Catholics have their schools
and buildings, and Protestants have theirs, if we can't see ourselves in one
another, if fear or resentment are allowed to harden - that too encourages
division. It discourages co-operation’.
‘If you continue your courageous
path towards a permanent peace, and the entire social and economic benefits
that come with it, that won't just be good for you’, he added.
‘It will be good for this entire
island, for the United Kingdom, for Europe; and it will be good for the world’.
President Obama told the crowd
that the United States of America will always ‘stand by’ Northern Ireland.
‘We will keep working closely with
leaders in Stormont, and Dublin, and Westminster to support your political
progress’.
‘To those who choose the path of
peace, I promise you, the United States of America will support you every step
of the way’.
‘We will always be a wind at your
back. And like I said when I visited two years ago, I am convinced that this
little island, that inspires the biggest things - its best days are yet ahead’.
As President Obama finished his
speech, he added, 'Good luck, God bless you, and God bless all the people of
Northern Ireland’.
Thunderous applause and a
standing ovation for the President of the United States, as Obama waved to the
crowd and shook the hands of young people.
On his two-day visit to Northern
Ireland for the G8 summit, the main issues were widely expected to be dominated
by Syria, trade and counterterrorism.
However; after an enthralling
speech to 2,000 local people, many will feel as though the greatest and most
powerful message, was that of hope and optimism for the people, and for the
future of Northern Ireland.
The most inspiring words of the
day, almost certainly came from 16 year old Hannah Nelson.
On a day in which people were so
excited about seeing President Obama, it was the superb speech from the young
student that related to every single person in the Waterfront Hall.
Peace does not just happen. There
may be many more dark days to come for Northern Ireland. However; young people
are always going to be a beacon of light for this wonderful country, and the encouraging
and inspiring words of Hannah Nelson certainly represent the hope and optimism
that we all hold for the future of Northern Ireland.
