Mrs. Obama:
Good morning.
(applause)
Oh, what an honor.
Good morning, everyone.
First of all, let me thank
Hannah for that very bold
and wonderful introduction.
And of course, I want to thank
all of you for being here today.
It is such a pleasure
to be here in Belfast.
And as you might imagine,
whenever we travel to places
like this or anywhere
else in the world,
we've got a pretty
packed schedule.
We're meeting with Presidents
and Prime Ministers
and First Ladies.
We're visiting historical sites
and attending state dinners.
And my husband is spending
hours trying to make progress
on global issues from trade
to international security.
But wherever we go, no matter
what's on our plate, we always
do our best to meet with young
people just like all of you.
In fact, you all might just
very well be some of the most
important people that we
talk to during our visits,
because in just a
couple of decades,
you will be the
ones in charge.
Yes, indeed.
You'll be the ones shaping
our shared future with your
passion and energy and ideas.
So when I look around this room,
I don't just see a
bunch of teenagers.
I see the people who will be
moving our world forward
in the years ahead.
And that's why we
wanted to be here today.
Let me tell you, when I was
your age, I never dreamed that
I'd be standing here as First
Lady of the United States.
And I know that my husband
never thought he'd be
President, either.
Neither of us grew
up with much money.
Neither of my parents
went to university.
Barack's father left
his family when Barack
was just two years old.
He was raised by a single mom.
And all along the way, there
were plenty of people
who doubted that kids like us
had what it took to succeed --
people who told us not
to hope for too much
or set our sights too high.
But Barack and I refused to
let other people define us.
Instead, we held tight to those
values we were raised with --
things like honesty, hard work,
a commitment to our education.
We did our best to be open to
others; to give everyone we met
a fair shake, no matter who they
were or where they came from.
And we soon realized that the
more we lived by those values,
the more we'd see them from
other people in return.
We saw that when we reached out
and listened to somebody else's
perspective, that person was
more likely to listen to us.
If we treated a classmate
with respect,
they'd treat us well in return.
And that's sort of how we
became who we are today.
That's how we learned what
leadership really means.
It's about stepping outside
of your comfort zone
to explore new ideas.
It's about rising
above old divisions.
It's about treating people
the way you want to
be treated in return.
And as young people, you all are
in a very powerful position
to make some of those same
choices yourselves.
You have the freedom
of an open mind.
You have a fresh perspective
that can help you find solutions
to age-old problems.
And with today's technology,
you can connect with
other young people
from all over Northern Ireland
and all around the world.
So right now, you've
got a choice to make.
You've got to decide how you're
going to use those advantages
and opportunities to build
the lives you dream of.
Because that decision will
determine not only the kinds of
people you'll become, but also
the kinds of communities you'll
live in, the kind of world
we'll all share together.
And standing here with
all of you today,
I have never felt more
optimistic, let me tell you.
Because time and again,
I have seen young people
like all of you choosing
to work together,
choosing to lift each other up,
choosing to leave behind the
conflicts and prejudices
of the past and create a
bright future for us all.
That's what's so powerful
about your generation.
And again, that's why we're here
today -- because we want you
to know that we believe in
each and every one of you.
That is exactly why we're here.
We believe that you all have
the ability to make a mark
on this world that will last
for generations to come.
We are so proud of you.
We expect great things.
So with that, I think it would
be a good opportunity for me
to introduce someone who
accompanied me here today.
(laughter)
I let him travel with me
every now and then.
(laughter)
But he is someone who is
just as excited and delighted
to deliver a message
of encouragement
and support to all of you --
my husband, the President
of the United States,
Barack Obama.
(applause)
The President:
Thank you!
Thank you so much.
(applause)
Please be seated.
Well, hello, Belfast!
(applause)
Hello, Northern Ireland!
(applause)
You now know why it's
so difficult to speak
after Michelle --
she's better than me.
(laughter)
But on behalf of both
of us, thank you so much
for this extraordinarily
warm welcome.
And I want to thank Hannah
for introducing my wife.
We had a chance to speak with
Hannah backstage and she's
an extraordinary young woman,
who I know is going to do
even greater things
in years to come.
I want to thank two men, who
I've hosted at the White House
on many a St. Patrick's Day,
for their warm welcome --
First Minister Peter Robinson --
(applause)
-- and Deputy First Minister 
Martin McGuinness.
(applause)
I spend the whole year
trying to unite Washington
around things, and they come
to visit on St. Patrick's Day
and they do it in
a single afternoon.
(laughter)
I want to thank the Secretary
of State for Northern Ireland,
Teresa Villiers.
(applause)
To all the Ministers
in the audience;
to Lord Mayor
Máirtín Ó Muilleoir.
(applause)
And I want to thank
all the citizens of Belfast
and Northern Ireland
for your hospitality.
(applause)
As our daughters pointed
out as we were driving in,
I cause a big
fuss wherever I go.
(laughter)
So traffic and barricades
and police officers,
and it's all a big production,
a lot of people are involved --
and I'm very, very grateful
for accommodating us.
The first time Michelle
and I visited this island
was about two years ago.
We were honored to
join tens of thousands
on College Green in Dublin.
We traveled to the little
village of Moneygall,
where, as it turned out,
my great-great-great grandfather 
was born.
And I actually identified this
individual in this place
only a few years ago.
When I was first running
for office in Chicago,
I didn't know this,
but I wish I had.
(laughter)
When I was in Chicago,
as I was campaigning,
they'd look at my last name
and they'd say,
"Oh, there's an O'Bama
from the homeland
running on the South Side,
so he must be Irish --
(laughter)
-- but I've never
heard the Gaelic name, Barack"
(laughter)
But it pays to be
Irish in Chicago.
(laughter)
So while we were in Moneygall,
I had a chance to meet
my eighth cousin, Henry --
who's also known
as Henry the Eighth.
(laughter)
We knew he was my cousin
because his ears flapped out
just like mine.
(laughter)
I leafed through the
parish logs where the names
of my ancestors are recorded.
I even watched Michelle learn
how to pull a proper
pint of "black."
Audience Member: Whoop!
(laughter)
The President:
Who's cheering for that?
(laughter)
So it was a magical visit.
But the only problem was
it was far too short.
A volcano in Iceland
forced us to leave
before we could
even spend the night.
So we've been eager for a chance
to return to the Emerald Isle
ever since -- and this time,
we brought our daughters, too.
In particular, we wanted to come
here, to Northern Ireland,
a place of remarkable beauty
and extraordinary history;
part of an island with which
tens of millions of Americans
share an eternal relationship.
America's story, in part,
began right outside the doors
of this gleaming hall.
Three hundred and twenty-five
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.
They, followed by hundreds
of thousands more,
helped America write
those early chapters.
They helped us win
our independence.
They helped us draft
our Constitution.
Soon after,
America returned to Belfast,
opening one of our very first 
consulates here in 1796,
when George Washington
was still President.
Today, names familiar
to many of you are etched
on schools and courthouses
and solemn memorials of war
across the United States --
names like Wilson and
Kelly, Campbell and O'Neill.
So many of the qualities that we
Americans hold dear we imported
from this land -- perseverance,
faith, an unbending belief
that we make our own destiny,
and an unshakable dream
that if we work hard
and we live responsibly,
something better lies
just around the bend.
So our histories are
bound by blood and belief,
by culture and by commerce.
And our futures are equally,
inextricably linked.
And that's why I've
come to Belfast today --
to talk about the future
we can build together.
Your generation, a young
generation, has come of age
in a world with fewer walls.
You've been educated in an
era of instant information.
You've been tempered by
some very difficult times
around the globe.
And as I travel, what I've seen
of young people like you --
around the world, they show me
these currents have conspired to
make you a generation possessed
by both a clear-eyed realism,
but also an optimistic idealism;
a generation keenly aware
of the world as it is,
but eager to forge
the world as it should be.
And when it comes
to the future we share,
that fills me with hope.
Young people fill me with hope.
Here, in Northern Ireland,
this generation has known
even more rapid change
than many young people
have seen around the world.
And while you have unique
challenges of your own,
you also have unique
reasons to be hopeful.
For you are the first
generation in this land
to inherit more than
just the hardened attitudes
and the bitter
prejudices of the past.
You're an inheritor of a
just and hard-earned peace.
You now live in a thoroughly
modern Northern Ireland.
Of course, the recessions that
spread through nearly every
country in recent years have
inflicted hardship here, too,
and there are communities
that still endure real pain.
But, day to day, life is
changing throughout the North.
There was a time people couldn't
have imagined Northern Ireland
hosting a gathering of world
leaders, as you are today.
And I want to thank Chief
Constable Matt Baggott
for working to keep
everyone safe this week.
(applause)
Northern Ireland is hosting
the World Police and Fire Games
later this year --
(applause)
-- which Dame Mary Peters
is helping to organize.
(applause)
Golf fans like me had
to wait a long six decades
for the Irish Open to return
to the North last year.
(applause)
I am unhappy that I will
not get a few rounds in
while I'm here.
(laughter)
I did meet
Rory McIlroy last year --
(applause)
-- and Rory offered to
get my swing "sorted," --
(laughter)
-- which was a polite
way of saying,
"Mr. President, you need help."
(laughter)
None of that would have been
imaginable a generation ago.
And 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, 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?"
(laughter and applause)
So to paraphrase
Seamus Heaney,
it's the manifestation of
sheer, bloody genius.
This island is now chic.
And these daily moments of
life in a bustling city
and a changing country, it may
seem ordinary to many of you --
and that's what makes
it so extraordinary.
That's what your parents
and grandparents dreamt
for all of you --
to travel without the
burden of checkpoints,
or roadblocks, or seeing
soldiers on patrol.
To enjoy a sunny day free from
the ever-present awareness
that violence could
blacken it at any moment.
To befriend or fall in love
with whomever you want.
They hoped for a day when the
world would think something
different when they
heard the word "Belfast."
Because of their effort,
because of their courage
that day has come.
Because of their work, those
dreams they had for you became
the most incredible thing of
all -- they became a reality.
It's been 15 years now since
the Good Friday Agreement;
since clenched fists gave way
to outstretched hands.
The people of this island voted
in overwhelming numbers
to see beyond the scars
of violence and mistrust,
and to choose to wage peace.
Over the years,
other breakthroughs
and agreements have followed.
That's extraordinary,
because for years,
few conflicts in the world 
seemed more intractable
than the one here
in Northern Ireland.
And when peace
was achieved here,
it gave the entire world hope.
The world rejoiced
in your achievement --
especially in America.
Pubs from Chicago to Boston
were scenes of revelry,
folks celebrating the hard work 
of Hume and Trimble and Adams
and Paisley, and so many others.
In America, you helped us
transcend our differences --
because 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.
But as all of you know all too
well, for all the strides
that you've made, there's
still much work to do.
There are still people
who haven't reaped
the rewards of peace.
There are those
who aren't convinced
that the effort is worth it.
There are still wounds that
haven't healed, and communities
where tensions and
mistrust hangs in the air.
There are walls
that still stand;
there are still
many miles to go.
From the start, no one
was naïve enough to believe
that peace would be anything
but a long journey.
Yeats once wrote
"Peace comes dropping slow."
But that doesn't mean our
efforts to forge a real
and lasting peace should
come dropping slow.
This work is as urgent
now as it has ever been,
because there's more to lose
now than there has ever been.
In today's hyper-connected
world, what happens here
has an impact on lives far
from these green shores.
If you continue your courageous
path toward a permanent peace,
and all the social and economic
benefits that have come with it,
that won't just be good for you,
it will be good for
this entire island.
It will be good for
the United Kingdom.
It will be good for Europe.
It will be good for the world.
We need you to get this right.
And what's more,
you set an example
for those who seek
a peace of their own.
Because beyond these
shores, right now,
in scattered corners
of the world,
there are people living
in the grip of conflict --
ethnic conflict, religious
conflict, tribal conflicts --
and they know something
better is out there.
And they're groping
to find a way to discover
how to move beyond
the heavy hand of history,
to put aside the violence.
They're studying
what you're doing.
And they're wondering,
perhaps if Northern Ireland
can achieve peace, we can, too.
You're their
blueprint to follow.
You're their proof
of what is possible --
because hope is contagious.
They're watching to
see what you do next.
Now, some of that is
up to your leaders.
As someone who knows
firsthand how politics
can encourage division and
discourage cooperation,
I admire the Northern
Ireland Executive
and the Northern
Ireland Assembly
all the more for making
power-sharing work.
That's not easy to do.
It requires compromise, and it
requires absorbing some pain
from your own side.
I applaud them for taking
responsibility for law
enforcement and for justice,
and I commend their effort to
"Building a United Community" --
important next steps along 
your transformational journey.
Because issues like segregated
schools and housing,
lack of jobs and opportunity --
symbols of history that are
a source of pride for some
and pain for others --
these are not tangential to
peace; they're essential to it.
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
encourages division.
It discourages cooperation.
Ultimately, peace is
just not about politics.
It's about attitudes; about a
sense of empathy; about breaking
down the divisions that we
create for ourselves in our own
minds and our own hearts that
don't exist in any objective
reality, but that we carry with
us generation after generation.
And I know, because America, we,
too, have had to work hard over
the decades, slowly, gradually,
sometimes painfully,
in fits and starts, to keep
perfecting our union.
A hundred and fifty years ago,
we were torn open
by a terrible conflict.
Our Civil War was far
shorter than The Troubles,
but it killed hundreds
of thousands of our people.
And, of course, the legacy of
slavery endured for generations.
Even a century after
we achieved our own 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.
And someone who looked
like me often had a hard time
casting a ballot,
much less being on a ballot.
But over time, laws changed,
and hearts and minds changed,
sometimes driven by
courageous lawmakers,
but more often driven
by committed citizens.
Politicians oftentimes
follow rather than lead.
And so, especially
young people helped to push
and to prod and to protest,
and to make common cause
with those who did
not look like them.
And that transformed America --
so that Malia and
Sasha's generation,
they have different attitudes
about differences and race
than mine and certainly 
different from the generation
before that.
And each successive generation
creates a new space
for peace and tolerance
and justice and fairness.
And while we have work to do in
many ways, we have surely become
more tolerant and more just,
more accepting, more willing
to see our diversity in America
not as something to fear,
but as something to welcome
because it's a source
of our national strength.
So as your leaders step forward
to address your challenges
through talks by all parties,
they'll need you young people
to keep pushing them,
to create a space for them,
to change attitudes.
Because ultimately, whether your
communities deal with the past
and face the future united
together isn't something
you have to wait for
somebody else to do --
that's a choice you
have to make right now.
It's within your power
to bring about change.
Whether you are a good neighbor
to someone from the other side
of past battles --
that's up to you.
Whether you treat them
with the dignity and respect
they deserve --
that's up to you.
Whether you let your
kids play with kids
who attend a different church --
that's your decision.
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 is in your hands.
And 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.
The terms of peace may be
negotiated by political leaders,
but the fate of peace
is up to each of us.
This peace in Northern
Ireland has been tested
over the past 15 years.
It's been tested
over the past year.
It will be tested again.
But remember something that
President Clinton said
when he spoke here in Belfast
just a few weeks
after the horrors of Omagh.
That bomb, he said, "was not the
last bomb of The Troubles;
it was the opening shot of a
vicious attack on the peace."
And 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 backwards.
And you should know that so
long as you are moving forward,
America will always
stand by you as you do.
We will keep working closely
with leaders in Stormont,
Dublin and Westminster to support 
your political progress.
We'll keep working to
strengthen our economies,
including through efforts like 
the broad economic initiative
announced on Friday
to unlock new opportunities for
growth and investment
between our two
countries' businesses --
because jobs and opportunity
are essential to peace.
Our scientists will keep
collaborating with yours
in fields like nanotechnology
and clean energy
and health care that
make our lives better
and fuel economic growth
on both sides of the Atlantic --
because progress is
essential to peace.
And because knowledge
and understanding
is essential to peace,
we will keep investing
in programs that
enrich both of us --
programs like the one at
Belfast Metropolitan College,
which teaches students from West
and North Belfast the skills
they need for new jobs, and
exchange programs that have
given thousands in Northern
Ireland and the United States
the chance to travel
to each other's communities
and learn from one another.
Now, one of those young
people is here today.
Sylvia Gordon is the director
of an organization called 
Groundwork Northern Ireland,
which aims to bring about
change from the ground up.
(applause)
Where's Sylvia?
Where's Sylvia?
Is Sylvia here somewhere?
Where is she?
She's here somewhere.
You're here, too, yes.
Some guy just waved,
he said, "I'm here."
(laughter)
Which is good, I
appreciate you being here.
(laughter)
As someone who got my start
as a community organizer,
I was so impressed with
what Sylvia has done,
because a few years ago,
Sylvia visited the United
States to learn more about
how Americans organize to
improve their communities.
So after she came home,
Sylvia rolled up her sleeves
here in Belfast and
decided to do something
about Alexandra Park.
Some of you may know this park.
For years, it was thought
to be the only park in Europe
still divided by a wall.
Think about that.
In all of Europe,
that one park has got
a wall in the middle of it.
Sylvia and her colleagues knew
how hard it would be to do
anything about a peace wall, but
they reached out to the police,
they reached out to the
Department of Justice.
They brought together people
from across the communities.
They knew it was going to be
hard, but they tried anyway.
And together, they all decided
to build a gate
to open that wall.
And now, people can walk freely
through the park
and enjoy the sun --
when it comes out --
(laughter)
-- just like people do every day 
in parks all around the world.
A small bit of progress.
But the fact that so far
we've only got a gate open
and the wall is still up
means there's more work to do.
And that's the work
of your generation.
As long as more
walls still stand,
we will need more
people like Sylvia.
We'll need more of you, young
people, who imagine the world
as it should be; who knock down
walls; who knock down barriers;
who imagine something different
and have the courage
to make it happen.
The courage to bring communities
together, to make even the small
impossibilities a shining
example of what is possible.
And that, more than anything,
will shape what Northern Ireland
looks like 15 years
from now and beyond.
All of you -- every single
young person here today --
possess something the
generation before yours did not,
and that is an
example to follow.
When those who took a
chance on peace got started,
they didn't have a successful
model to emulate.
They didn't know
how it would work.
But they took a chance.
And so far, it has succeeded.
And the first
steps are the hardest
and requires the most courage.
The rest, now, is up to you.
"Peace is indeed
harder than war,"
the Irish author Colum McCann 
recently wrote.
"And its constant fragility
is part of its beauty.
A bullet need happen only once,
but for peace to work we need
to be reminded of its existence
again and again and again."
And that's what
we need from you.
That's what we need
from every young person
in Northern Ireland,
and that's what we need
from every young person
around the world.
You must remind us of the
existence of peace --
the possibility of peace.
You have to remind us of hope
again and again and again.
Despite resistance, despite
setbacks, despite hardship,
despite tragedy, you have
to remind us of the future
again and again and again.
I have confidence you
will choose that path;
you will embrace that task.
And 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 as I said when I visited two
years ago, I am convinced that
this little island that inspires
the biggest of things --
this little island, its
best days are yet ahead.
Good luck.
God bless you.
And God bless all the
people of Northern Ireland.
(applause)
Thank you.
