Earlier this year, my wife and I accepted an invitation from President Carter to pay an official visit to the United States.
Since Ireland holds the Presidency of the European Community for the six months ending 31 December next, my visit afforded an opportunity of discussing not only matters affecting Ireland and United States-Irish relations generally but also aspects of European Community affairs. I was accompanied during the visit by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Mrs. O'Kennedy.
I should like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the official party, formally and most sincerely, to express my thanks to President Carter for his invitation and for the hospitality with which we were received in the United States. We were treated with the generosity for which America is noted. Official, protocol and security arrangements, at all levels, could not have been better. It is a fair conclusion that the historically good relations between Ireland and America were affirmed and reinforced by the visit. I took the opportunity of the visit to invite President Carter and his wife to come to Ireland on a mutually convenient date in the future.
At our meeting on 8 November with President Carter, Secretary of State Vance and National Security Adviser Brzezinski, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and I discussed the fundamental identity of interest between Ireland, the United States and the European Community in the world today which was clearly apparent. The President was most understanding on the need for American investment in Ireland, North and South. As the press statement issued after the meeting indicates, both of us condemned support for organisations engaged, directly or indirectly, in campaigns of violence in Northern Ireland, which only delay the coming of peace and reconciliation and retard economic, political and social progress on this island. I have arranged for a copy of that statement to be laid before the House.
Other American officials or representatives we met included Vice President Mondale, Speaker O'Neill, Senator Moynihan, Congressmen Foley and Boland, the chairmen and other members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We also met Treasury Secretary Miller, Energy Secretary Duncan and Deputy (Energy) Secretary Sawhill, Governors King, Garrahy and Carey of the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York, and Mayors Jane Byrne, Morial and McConn. Again at these meetings we discussed matters affecting Northern Ireland, American investment in Ireland and EEC-US relations. Towards the end of our tour we had discussions with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Waldheim, and afterwards with the President of the Security Council, the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. We discussed matters affecting world peace and security and in particular Cambodia and Ireland's peace-keeping role in the Lebanon. Our respective heavy schedules made it impossible for Senator Kennedy and me to meet but we had a long and useful telephone discussion on the major issues of common concern.
Much of my time during the visit was taken up also with briefing on the situation in Ireland and in Europe for editors, correspondents and other media representatives.
Throughout our tour, we met with many other representatives and officials and discussed with them—as I did with President Carter and his colleagues—matters such as
—issues facing the United States and the European Community in the world today,
—bilateral issues as between Ireland and the United States and
—policy affecting Northern Ireland.
In relation to Europe, we discussed, in a general way, the major problems facing both our communities in the world today, including the increasingly serious shortage of energy, the impact of modern technology on employment, the shift in trade as between developing and industralised countries and the demographic changes affecting the values and nature of society in many countries.
We discussed also at some of the meetings the issues which are likely to arise in the immediate future such as the completion of the Multilateral Trade Negotiations, the question of the convergence of the economies of the Nine and the budget of the European Community. As Deputies will be aware, the latter items are likely to be considered at the European Council of Heads of State or of Government, at which I will be presiding, in Dublin later this month.
An essential objective of my visit was the affirmation of the good relations between Ireland and the United States. Everywhere we went, we were met with friendship and understanding. The Irish community in America, estimated at about 20 million strong, have much to be proud of in their contribution to the country of their ancestors and to the country of their adoption.
About half of the new foreign investment in industry in this country originates in America. This investment may be influenced by the closeness of the bonds between our two countries, by a common language and by the common values of the American and Irish peoples. But essentially the investment comes here because of the welcome which the Irish people and all of our Governments have given it and because of the high rate of return it can now achieve in a market of 260 million people. Location of American industry in Ireland does not hurt employment or investment in America but gives access to the European market which would not otherwise be available. During my visit I announced details of further investment by nine American corporations, involving capital commitments of about £13 million and about 1,600 new jobs, when fully operational. These industries include firms producing electronic, pharmaceutical, medical, leisure and chemical products, all in high demand and most on the frontiers of technology in the world today. The representatives of other firms, some of them in similar lines of business, and some among the most advanced in their particular fields of operation in the world, indicated their intention of deciding soon to locate in Ireland; but in accordance with a wise and well-established practice, we do not announce details until the decisions are made. These new industries whose names will become apparent in coming weeks and months will continue the drive we are making to establish Ireland as an important manufacturer and supplier, in the world today, of electronic and other high technology products.
So far, in what I have been saying I have been concerned largely with economic and social affairs. I want now to turn to the third of the major concerns of my visit. This was to outline Government policies on Northern Ireland and to give the American people everywhere as wide and as deep as possible an understanding of the issues involved. The essential principles are clear. I have outlined them many times before in this House—most recently in reply to Parliamentary Questions on 17 October 1979. I do not intend to go again in detail into these issues here today. It is sufficient to say that everywhere we went there was widespread support for and understanding of the Government's aims and policies and an extraordinarily high measure of abhorrence for those conducting campaigns of violence or supporting them, directly or indirectly.
An obvious question is whether the visit was a success. I think that it was—in the understanding I received from President Carter and other leaders, in the support which is patently now so widespread among the American people for the Government's aims and policies, in the creation of prosperity and employment from the new investment which the visit so obviously encouraged, and in the extent, veracity and immediacy of the coverage we received from the media both in Washington and elsewhere. But Deputies need not accept my assessment. I need refer only to Senator Kennedy's congratulations in his formal statement after our discussion on our "extremely successful tour of the U.S."—and to Governor Carey's assessment of the visit as being a "profound success".