President of Ireland visit: Palace of Westminster speech

President of Ireland visit: Palace of Westminster speech; Michael D.Higgins (President of Ireland) speech SOT Nearly 90 years earlier, the passage of the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 was secured by the leadership of our great Irish parliamentarian, Daniel O'Connell. O'Connell's nationalism set no border to his concern for human rights; his advocacy also extended to causes and movements for justice around the world, including the struggle to end slavery. He was totally dedicated to seeking freedom, as he put it: "attained not by the effusion of human blood but by the constitutional combination of good and wise men." While O'Connell may not have achieved that ambition during his own lifetime, it was such an idealism that served to guide and influence, so many years later, the achievement of the momentous Good Friday Agreement of 1998. That achievement was founded on the cornerstones of equality, justice and democratic partnership, and was a key milestone on the road to today's warm, deep and enduring Irish-British friendship. Our two countries can take immense pride in the progress of the cause of peace in Northern Ireland. There is of course still a road to be travelled - the road of a lasting and creative reconciliation - and our two Governments have a shared responsibility to encourage and support those who need to complete the journey of making peace permanent and constructive. Mr Speaker, Lord Speaker: I stand here at a time when the relationship between our two islands has, as I have said, achieved a closeness and warmth that once seemed unachievable. The people of Ireland greatly cherish the political independence that was secured in 1922 - an independence which was fought for by my father and many of his generation. The pain and sacrifice associated with the advent of Irish independence inevitably cast its long shadow across our relations, causing us, in the words of the Irish MP Stephen Gwynn, to: "look at each...