The new British ambassador to Ireland, Mr Ivor Roberts, stressed the importance of the relationship between Ireland and Britain when he presented his credentials to the President, Mrs McAleese, yesterday.
"For reasons of family, and of familiarity and of economics, for everyone in these islands, the relationship between our two countries matters," he said.
"The shared history of our two countries has been burdened by distrust and conflict. The Troubles have overshadowed most of my adult life. For centuries the difficulties in this relationship have been an important, recurrent and often tragic theme.
"But this reading of our history does not do justice to our relationship. In his address to the Oireachtas last year the Prime Minister spoke of the many areas in which the people of our two countries share common interests and indeed passions.
"The intermingling of our history and our family ties can now, more than ever, be a force for good." The ambassador also praised the progress made towards an agreement in the North, and pledged his commitment to help it succeed. He said he hoped to strengthen the relationship between the two states as partners in Europe.
"It will be my privilege to be in Dublin as we move into the new millennium, and at a time when my country is modernising itself through major constitutional reform. I very much hope that this will herald a new beginning in the relationship between us," he concluded.
Mr Roberts arrived in Dublin with his wife, Elizabeth, on Sunday. He has just spent a year at St Anthony's College, Oxford, where he was writing a book on his experiences in Belgrade, his last posting. He went there in 1994 as charge d'affaires, and became ambassador in 1997.
He joined the British foreign service in 1968 at the age of 22, and served in Lebanon, Paris, Luxembourg, Canberra and Madrid. He also worked in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, serving in its West African, Arabian, European and news departments, as well as a counsellor from 1986 to 1988. He has three children.