Remarks by President Mary McAleese at the Official Opening of an Emigrant Holiday Weekend
Remarks by President Mary McAleese at the Official Opening of an Emigrant Holiday Weekend in Castlebar, Co. Mayo
Tá lucháir mhór orm bheith anseo libh inniu, agus ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl díbh don fáilte a raibh fíor, fairsing agus flaithiúil.
I thank Sean Reynolds and Kevin Bourke of the Mayo Emigrant Liaison Committee for the kind invitation to open this event and in the name of each of us offer a very warm welcome to the emigrants themselves, the volunteers, organisers and the statutory agencies who made this remarkable event possible. There is of course a huge welcome and a special thanks also to the Birmingham Pipe and Drum Band who will undoubtedly provide many hours of entertainment over the coming days.
Recently I had the pleasure of opening an Housing and Day-Care project in Athlacca, in Co. Limerick. I met a woman who had spent over seventy years away from Ireland. She was facing a lonely old age and had become fearful and reclusive. Now back home I witnessed the sheer joy on her face as she talked about the feeling of security, the comfort of returning to her beloved homeland, the energy with which she got up and enthusiastically welcomed each new day. Having the chance to come home had quite literally given her back her life. So many people who have left our shores harbour that dream of returning - a dream summarised in the Emigrants Memorial - the swallows which symbolise our exiles who fled in search of a livelihood but always cherished the hope of returning some day to their homeland. I have met them in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and often times your heart would be heavy as you listen to them tell their stories. For so many the dream was never to materialise, but we who live in this blessed generation, who have seen the tide of emigration turn, who have seen Ireland reach out and draw back its emigrants, we have lived to see that dream turn into reality for more and more people.
And yet that new reality brings its own problems. Returning to a country you left long behind can be very daunting. The place has changed, you return a stranger into a place where old friends may no longer be around. Becoming part of a new community takes courage on the part of the individual and care on the part of the community. This modern Ireland is faster, more sophisticated than many remember it and it is true our people have worked hard, have dragged this country up by its bootstraps and made it a success so remarkable, that its name is debated from one end of the globe to the other. But beneath these changes lie the unchanging core values that drive, shape and inform our psyche as a nation, - our sense of family, our commitment to community, our ability to celebrate life itself even in adversity, our profound sense of responsibility for each other, our compassion, our spontaneous gift for friendship, enduring friendship. Those qualities are clearly evident here in Mayo, and great credit is due to the Mayo Emigrant Liaison Committee for organising this special occasion. The Committee members have arranged a week packed with events which will, I am sure, help to create unforgettable memories. Those shared memories are a very important part of the shared journeys which bind us to each other and which help the stranger to become a friend.
I am fortunate to have the opportunity to travel and meet many Irish communities abroad and around the world and they are famous for their care for each other. As each wave of emigrants adapted to new environments they reached out to the next trying to lessen the burden of loneliness, fear and lostness. We have a lot of experience of those things, a lot of skill in dealing with them and now we are asked to put them to good use here in Ireland as we become a place that people return to or a place that strangers come to in search of an opportunity, in hope of a welcome. We rely so much on the goodness and the vision of people like you, to put in place that welcome. It takes dedication and commitment of a high order and I know you do it not for the thanks but for the reward of a job well done, a life renewed.
Many hours of hard work and many sleepless nights have gone into making this day a reality and I congratulate you all, particularly the Mayo Liaison Committee, for making this initiative the success it has proved to be.
Go n-eiri go geal libh. Go raibh maith agaibh.