Speech at the Stoneybatter Pride of Place Festival
Stoneybatter, Dublin 7, 24th June 2018
A chairde,
Ar an gcéad dul síos is mian liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil libh as an fíorchaoin fáilte a d’fhear sibh romham féin agus roimh mo bhean céile Saidhbhín innu. Tá áthas orainn a bheith anseo libh chun bhur gceantar, bhur bpobal agus bhur gcomharsanacht ionchuimsitheach a cheiliúradh.
It is truly a pleasure to join all of you here in Bóthar na gCloch, Stoneybatter, today. May I thank my old friend Joe Costello, Chairperson of the Pride of Place Festival Committee for his most generous invitation to attend the Festival today. As you all know, I am a very close neighbour so could not resist attending what is a celebration of one of the most vibrant communities in this city, one that has, in its long history, played such an important part in the lives of so of our citizens and in the life of our country. The programme of events is action-packed, and it is a tribute to all those who have volunteered, whether they are artists, musicians, historians, actors, or from local businesses, museums, churches, and community groups - who have dedicated their time and effort to make this day possible.
During my time as President of Ireland, I have had the opportunity to advocate for the building a republic of equal citizens, one in which the concept of citizenship and of the citizen is inclusive, open and generous, a republic built not alone on our own material self-interest but on our commitment to our communities and to each other. That is why days such as this are so important, days upon which people can come together in a spirit of friendship, solidarity and companionship to spend time in one another’s company.
Friendship, community and solidarity are, after all, most important civic virtues in a republic, vital to binding our communities together through the bonds of reciprocal obligation based on mutual sympathy and affection. We stand not far from the military cemetery at Arbour Hill Prison, the resting place of 14 of those executed following the 1916 Rising. Many of the great movements of thought and action which sought to create a free and independent Irish state – from the United Irishmen to the Irish Citizen Army – placed community and friendship at the very heart of their programme, none more so than the Young Irelanders. Let us recall the words of that great patriot, Thomas Davis, who urged his compatriots to ‘cultivate the love of your brethren’.
I also wish to cultivate among the Irish people a love for their native language. As 2018 has been announced as “Bliain na Gaeilge” I urge everybody to try to incorporate some Irish into your daily lives.
Tá 2018 fograithe mar “Bliain na Gaeilge”. Leis an teideal sin curtha ar an mBliain, ba bhreá liom dá dtiocfadh méadú ar úsáid laethúil na teanga i mbailte agus i gcathracha na hÉireann. Níl éinne ag súil go mbeadh muid líofa, foirfe sa teanga, ach nach mbeadh sé deas dá bhféadfadh muid ar fad cúpla frása a úsáid le chéile ó am go chéile? Is linne í, agus ba cheart dúinn í a úsáid, fiú muna bhfuil ann ach cor “conas atá tú” nó “an bhfuil aon scéal agat?”.
Má táimid dáiríre faoin teanga ní féidir linn a bheith leisciúil. Is orainn atá an dualgas an teanga a úsáid agus a thaispeáint don rialtas go bhfuil éileamh ar an teanga agus gur fiú an infheistíocht atá ag teastáil. A páistí: bígí á úsáid eadraibh agus sibh ag sproí. A thuistí: tabhair dea-shampla don aos óg agus úsáid cúpla focal timpeall an tí. Beidh íonadh oraibh an méad atá sa “hard drive”, fiú más fada ó bhí sibh i seomra ranga!
This social and economic fabric of this community has been subject to often profound change. For over a century Stoneybatter hosted the largest castle market in the country. Hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep would arrive by train to Heuston Station every year, many to be sent down along North Circular Road to the North Wall and Dublin Port. It also become home to many of the city’s skilled workers when the Dublin Artisan Dwelling Company built cottages off Oxmantown Road during the 1880s and 1890s.
Today, this community is continuing to change, sometimes under the pressure of a housing system which is all too often inadequate to the needs of our citizens and which often fails to recognise the universal right, not to some abstract concept of a housing unit, but to a home and a community in which one can feel safe.
We must all continue to work together to sustain and promote that sense of solidarity and cohesion which is required in all communities, and to identify collectively that which must be achieved and overcome if we are to live together in sustainable, ethical and inclusive republic. All of the challenges that we face in the world today can only be addressed by collective action, sometimes by the state but also by communities acting together throughout our country.
May I then commend the Stoneybatter Pride of Place Festival Committee, and all of you here today, for the wonderful spirit you have demonstrated. May it long continue into the future.
Go raith míle maith agaibh agus beir beannacht.
