Bill Clinton: Ireland is awakening from the nightmare

"Much of Irish history is rich and warm and wonderful, but we all know it has had its nightmarish aspects," he said, invoking writer James Joyce, during a visit to a Dublin computer plant.

"They are something from which Ireland is awakening.

"The leaders and the people of Ireland and Northern Ireland are helping the world to awaken from history's nightmares."

His speech - one of a series of addresses during a day in Dublin - added further weight to the Good Friday agreement for a political settlement in Northern Ireland.

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But the president could not escape his domestic troubles.

Earlier, during an awkward photocall at Dublin Castle, he apologised for his affair with White House worker Monica Lewinsky, saying: "I made a bad mistake."

But his speech later at the US-owned Gateway 2000 factory allowed him to concentrate on the quest for peace.

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"You are moving towards permanent peace, remarkable prosperity and unparalleled influence to a brighter tomorrow for your children," he said.

"May the nightmares stay gone, the dreams stay bright and the responsibilities wear easily on your shoulders because the future is yours."

Bertie Ahern: A country at peace with itself

Earlier Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said Ireland had "crossed the Rubicon" for a new beginning as it approached the millennium.

Mr Ahern told business leaders the search for a new Ireland had often been against the odds.

But he described it as "a new Ireland that cherishes difference, a new Ireland that is at peace with itself, in the conduct of all its affairs - political, economic and social.

"I believe that at last we as a people can now truthfully say that we have crossed the Rubicon, for a brand new beginning as we approach the next millennium."

Breakaway group

Mr Clinton visited the Gateway factory as new anti-terrorist laws took effect in Ireland and Britain.

The laws were introduced following the killing of 28 people by a bomb in Omagh, Northern Ireland.

The bombing, Northern Ireland's worst terror attack, was blamed on breakaway group, the Real IRA.

Mr Clinton, who visited the town on Thursday, said he was "just overwhelmed by the dimension of the tragedy and the grim, cruel nature of the violence".

He added he was heartened by the spirit of the survivors.

"Even the people who have suffered the most from the test of peace don't want to give into it."

He added that the Irish could set an example for warring peoples in the Middle East and elsewhere.

"The potential impact of resolving this could wash over many more people than live on this island," he said.