Over the last several hours today I have talked to the parties. I'm convinced they do all genuinely want this peace process to work. They know how far it has come. They know how irresponsible it would be to permit it to fail. On the basis of our discussion, it is clear to me that's what must happen to move the process forward. First, the Patten report must be implemented, and on that basis leaders from every part of the community must commit to make the new police service work.
There must be security normalisation and arms must be put beyond use. This will lead to a reduction of fear and mistrust on all sides. And somehow these processes must take place together, giving practical effect on the ground to the rhetorical promise of peace.
I think we can do this. Of course, it will be difficult. But I urge the parties, the political parties here, the British and Irish governments, the communities themselves, to work out the way forward in the coming days and weeks. And we will do all we can to help.
I have said before to all of you - I did two years ago when I was here - how profoundly important peace in Northern Ireland is to the rest of the world.
This morning, when I got up, I saw the Prime Minister of Ethiopia on television, discussing the agreement the United States helped to broker there, between Ethiopia and Eritrea. I have been heavily involved in the Middle East for eight years now, and in many of the tribal conflicts in Africa, in a little-understood border conflict in the Andes and many other places.
And let me tell you, you cannot imagine the impact of the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland on troubled regions of the world - in Africa and the Middle East, in Latin America and, of course, in the Balkans, where the United States has been heavily involved in my time. Peace continues to be challenged all around the world. It is more important than ever to say: but look what they did in Northern Ireland and look what they are doing in Northern Ireland.
In the end, there has to be a belief that you can only go forward together; that you cannot be lifted up by putting your neighbour down. You know, I think - and I talk in the United States about this a lot - our children will live in a completely different world than the one we have known. Just for example, because of the human genome project, which is going to give us cures for many kinds of cancers, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and, more important, will give mothers bringing little babies home from the hospital road maps of their children's genetic make-up and future - very soon, life expectancy in places with decent health systems will be over 90 years. And in the lives of the young people in this audience, I am convinced, average life expectancy will rise to 100 years.
You will see new sources of energy tapped and new conservation technologies developed that will enable human beings for the first time both to increase wealth and to reduce energy use and global warming, ensuring a longer future on this planet for the great-grandchildren of the youngest people in this audience today. You will be able to, you young people, travel farther and faster through outer space and cyberspace even than people can today. The world will be so different for you.
Now, I think the children of Northern Ireland deserve their fair chance to be a full part of that future. I believe the people of Northern Ireland want that for their children, and that means the leaders of Northern Ireland must find a way to do what is necessary to give that future to your children.
You know, this is the last chance I will have as President to speak to the people of Northern Ireland. Let me say to all of you that I have tried to be pretty straightforward today in my remarks, and not nearly as emotional as I feel. I think you know that I have loved this land and love the work I have tried to do for peace. But the issue is not how I feel, it's how your kids are going to live.
I say to all of you, it has been a great honour for me; it has been an honour for the United States to be involved in the cause of peace in a land that produced the forebears of so many of present-day America's citizens.
I believe that the United States will be with you in the future. I know I will be with you in the future in whatever way I can.
But in the end, I will say again, what really matters is not what America does; and what really matters is not even all the encouragement you give to people around the world. What really matters is what you do and whether you decide to give your children not your own yesterdays, but their own tomorrows.
Thank you and God bless you.