Speech by President Higgins at a State Dinner hosted by The President of the Hellenic Republic
Presidential Mansion, Athens, 22 February 2018
A Shoilse, Uachtarán na Poblachta Heilléanaí,
A Bhean Uasal Pavlopoulou,
A Airí,
A Ambasadóirí,
A dhaoine uaisle,
A Uachtaráin,
Gabhaim buíochas leat as do chuid focal cineálta anocht a Uachtaráin. Thar ceann Saidhbhín, an tAire Doherty agus ár dToscaireacht ar fad, táimid an-bhuíoch díot.
Táim an-bhuíoch díot freisin as na n-onóracha a taispeánadh d'Éirinn agus dom féin le linn an tSearmanais Fáilte ar maidin. Agus mé i mo sheasamh taobh leat inniu, ag éisteacht len ár n-amhráin náisiúnta, chuaigh an ócáid i bhfeidhm go mór orm. Ní hamháin de bharr an lae speisialta seo agus an Cuairt Stáit i gcoitinne, ach de bharr na cosúlachtaí atá eadrainn mar náisiúin chomh maith.
Let me thank you for your kind and generous words of welcome, and the actions of welcome, here tonight. On behalf of Sabina, Minister Doherty and our whole Delegation, we are most grateful.
I am very appreciative also for the honours accorded to Ireland and to myself during your Ceremonial Welcome this morning. As I stood with you today, listening to the renditions of our National Anthems, I felt very moved indeed. Moved not only by the special nature of this day and this State Visit, but also by thoughts of how much we share, and the vision we can share together of our future.
President,
I valued greatly our opportunity for a very substantive and open dialogue about the challenges today for our Europe and for our two peoples. We share a common perspective on the future of the European Union, the urgency of recovering and strengthening social cohesion, the vital importance of protecting human rights as we seek to address the needs of those fleeing war and persecution, and the need to forge ever stronger and enduring cultural, education and business links.
President,
We are at a moment when all of our citizens in the European Union must be involved in discerning the future of our Union. We in Ireland have a practical and immediate context for this. The intention of our neighbour, the United Kingdom, to withdraw from the European Union and the associated negotiations are a major concern for Ireland and for our Union. The Government of Ireland greatly appreciates the solidarity shown by Greece and our European partners, and in particular by Greece, throughout the negotiations.
These matters are part of a deeper question – that of the future shape and direction of our European Union. So much of our shared moral patrimony, of our most egalitarian and humane traditions, has its origins in Greece, both ancient and modern.
This inheritance, and its contemporary expressions, will be an invaluable resource as we now try to craft a new solidarity between the peoples of Europe, one that can restore social cohesion and promote social justice in our countries and in our European Institutions.
As we debate and discuss the future of our Union, we do so cognisant of the role it has played, as its best, in transforming our two countries. It is my hope, therefore, that the Summit to take place on Western Balkans in May will prove to be a milestone in welcoming others into our Union based on a shared commitment to the values of respect for human dignity and human rights, freedom, democracy, equality and creativity.
Our Union stretches from the West of Ireland where Sabina and I call home, to the borders of Greece. We may be separated by geography, but we have truly profound ties in our shared history.
I speak not only of a common experience of a long struggle for national independence, but of two cultures shaped by an experience of exile and emigration. When your distinguished poet, George Seferis, wrote of ‘images nourished under foreign skies’, he gave voice to so many of our people, Irish and Greek, who have left our shores throughout our histories. For that reason, I believe that we share, drawing on our mutual experience, a special solidarity for the plight of those who have left their homes fleeing war, persecution, famine and natural disasters.
The Greek people, in the generosity of their response to the plight of refugees, in offering shelter and a dignified future to so many, have provided an example of hospitality and solidarity not only to the people of Ireland, but to the peoples of our European Union. It is an example, I hope, that will be taken up with answerable efforts.
President,
It is just over forty years since Embassies were established in our two countries. In those four decades we have witnessed profound change and confronted great challenges. Throughout that time, we have maintained and deepened our common ties. I am especially glad that two organisations who have contributed so much to this – the Greek-Irish Society and the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies – are represented here this evening.
One of our most beloved poets, the late Seamus Heaney visited Greece on numerous occasions and many of his poems were influenced by that experience. In fact, he was here in Greece when the message was relayed to him in 1995 that he had been named Nobel Laureate. Seamus was in the South-West Peloponnese, in Pylos – ‘sandy Pylos’ in the words of Homer. Later, admiring the harbour and reflecting on the historic news of that day, Heaney began a new Odyssey:
“One of the happiest moments…. was a celebration that night – squid and chips at an outside table on the harbour front. Between trawlers and tavernas. Starlight and electric light reflecting in the water. I felt as strange there as Telemachus must have felt.”
So many Irish people have come and returned to Greece over the years, not only for the beauty of landscape and the warmth of the Greek people, but also to participate in the culture and life of the Hellenic Republic. Having had the experience of learning Ancient Greek at school, I have had the joyful experience of taking a number journeys to Greece as well as exploring the works of so many Greek writers, philosophers and artists. It is no surprise, therefore, that our shared oral traditions, our common experience as diasporic and migratory people, have inspired so many of our writers and artists.
President,
Having received the news that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, Seamus Heaney departed Greece from your home city of Kalamata. A native of Derry, and one whose art was so influenced by the conflict in Northern Ireland, he was interviewed before leaving, and spoke of the effects of ‘a new mood’ injected by breakthroughs in the Peace Process, an energy that would lead to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement three years later.
We shall mark the 20th anniversary of that Agreement in seven weeks’ time. Speaking of the ‘new mood’ on that day in Kalamata, Seamus Heaney said, ‘it is a very precious mood because it promises new energy’. These words were, at the time, prophetic, but they also remind us of the necessity of cultivating that new spirit, and of continuing to nurture the Peace Process.
A new generation, North and South, have little memory of the violence and bloodshed of those years, as new institutions of North-South co-operation have ensured a wide range of shared endeavours in health, agriculture, trade, tourism and many other spheres of activity.
As I have said, the intention of the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union and the lack of clarity about its relationship with the Union after March 2019 has potentially grave consequences for the island of Ireland, and could present a serious challenge to the Peace Process.
Ireland continues to work with fellow Member States and the EU Taskforce on the Article 50 negotiations, and we are very grateful to the Hellenic Republic for its friendship and solidarity as we face these challenges together.
President,
We look forward very much to welcoming you and Madame Pavlopoulou to Ireland in the future. You will be assured of the warmest of welcomes.
In one of best known poems, Seamus Heaney wrote of his rural childhood, of working the land, and of making, as he put it:
“lambdas on the stubble once at harvest
and the Delta face of each potato pit
was patted straight and moulded against the frost.
All gone, with the omega that kept
Watch above each door, the good-luck horseshoe.”
Your Excellency,
May I offer you and the Greek people good luck also, in the knowledge of our steadfast friendship and solidarity, and of a future full of possibility.
