REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT BAHRAIN IRISH COMMUNITY RECEPTION, MANAMA, BAHRAIN
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT BAHRAIN IRISH COMMUNITY RECEPTION, MANAMA, BAHRAIN TUESDAY, 3 FEBRUARY 2009
Minister O’Keeffe, Ambassador, ladies and gentlemen, friends of Ireland,
Martin and I are very happy to be here with you this evening in the Kingdom of Bahrain. My thanks to our Ambassador, Tom Russell for his kind hospitality this evening and for all the good work he and his terrific staff do here for Ireland. Tom gets a lot of help though from Ireland’s unpaid and unofficial ambassadors. He tells me that when you are organising an event in the Irish community in Bahrain, the first person you recruit to your side is Edel Al Lahiq, the Chairwoman of the Bahrain Irish Society. I want to extend my thanks to Edel and her committee and the many members of the Society who worked with the Embassy to create this night of Irish craic and camaraderie. The Irish Dancers, Inis Ealga, gave us a spirited performance this evening and it is wonderful to see Irish culture and heritage so vibrant so far from home. My thanks to each one of you - whether lucky enough to be Irish, or to be married to the Irish, or just good friends of the Irish. We Irish are a people who enjoy company. We generally make friends easily and there is nothing we enjoy more than a chance to get together as we are doing here.
It is almost thirty years since the last Irish Head of State visited Bahrain and since then Ireland has developed and prospered remarkably. Our people are today the most skilled, educated and successful in our history. The strong economic growth of the past exciting years has given way to much tougher economic times - in common with much of the rest of the world. Charting a way through these difficult times is not easy either at the level of the individual or the country but there is a resourcefulness and resilience in the Irish DNA that comes of being no strangers to hard times and difficult choices. We have a formidable community spirit which will see us through. It is something we take with us wherever we go and that spirit is as strong in Bahrain and the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia as it is in Ireland.
Those of you for whom this region is home, bring with you direct and live access to Ireland, the Irish character, culture, heritage and community. You also bring support and friendship and the familiarity of home to one another. These are exceptional gifts and I am sure you are thrilled to see both your adopted homeland and the land of your birth showcasing their compatibility and their partnership in the magnificent building that houses the RCSI Medical University of Bahrain. There, the Celtic and Arab imagery are woven beautifully together drawing on two ancient and noble heritages. In that building a new and shared heritage is being and will be created through its work of teaching, caring and research. It was a great privilege to be here for the official opening.
Hopefully some of the students and staff will be tempted to join the Bahrain Irish Society and the Arabian Celts GAA, both of which are a great testament to the effort and the welcoming environment that help Irish culture and traditions to endure and prosper far from home.
The sheer energy our global Irish family puts in to bringing the best of Ireland to bear in their new homelands is astonishing. It makes many new friends for us for it is never exclusive or elitist but it is always offered with an open hand to new neighbours and colleagues. The story of Ireland’s large and scattered clan is a massive and colourful narrative that brings us so much pride. I know the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen and the Irish Government are giving a lot of thought to how that clan of ours can develop its cohesion and sense of community in the years ahead. One of the ways is in gatherings and visits like this where those stories of emigration come to life in faces and chats and handshakes and smiles and interrogations that reveal we are related.
These two island nations, Bahrain and Ireland have similarities which make our conversations flow - the role of the sea, the role played by bigger neighbours, the intensity of our identity, the magnitude of our cultural heritage, the determination we have to make our countries the best we can. There is palpable and righteous pride in Bahraini culture and heritage which are showcased in the Museum of Bahrain and the Beit Al Qur’an, two wonderful places in which to experience the richness of Bahraini and Islamic history.
Thirty years from now, or less, when another President of Ireland comes to visit, this Irish community and this partnership between Ireland and Bahrain will have grown, consolidated and changed us both in the process. I know that thanks to you, Bahrain may very well be making its bid for the Sam Maguire or the World Irish Dancing Championship. But most important of all, two island nations divided by geography and culture will have grown ever closer as trusted friends and family and in our own quiet way we will have shown to a too suspicious and hostile world, what wonderful energies and opportunities are released by building bridges of partnership between us.
I once again thank you all very much for welcoming Martin and me here today and wish you all good luck in maintaining this wonderful community
Go raibh míle, míle maith agaibh.