REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE ABU DHABI IRISH COMMUNITY RECEPTION UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE ABU DHABI IRISH COMMUNITY RECEPTION UNITED ARAB EMIRATES WEDNESDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2009
Minister Martin, Ambassador, ladies and gentlemen, friends of Ireland.
I am very proud to be the first ever Irish Head of State to visit the United Arab Emirates and I needn’t tell you how much Martin and I have looked forward to this trip.
Our host this evening is Ambassador Tom Russell and I thank him on behalf of all of us for his hospitality this evening and also for all that he does to make the relationships between Ireland and the Emirates really dynamic and strong. He tells me than not alone has he a great professional staff but that there is a cohort of unpaid ambassadors who are second to none, particularly among the Abu Dhabi and Dubai Irish societies. You have both worked so hard with the Embassy to make this event truly memorable and how could this company and these grand surroundings be anything other than very, very special? We have heard wonderful traditional music from Inis Oirr and we have felt that lovely flow of craic and conversation which always bubbles happily wherever two or more Irish and their friends are gathered.
It is great to see just how steadily the links between the United Arab Emirates and Ireland have been growing. Trade between us stands at around 650 million euro per year which means a lot of people are behind those very encouraging figures. Some 4,000 Irish people live and work here in a vast range of jobs and I am sure they are delighted to have the direct and daily air link with Dublin, provided by Etihad Airways. Besides football, the other great Irish passion shared with the Emiratis is horses and horse-racing. I am looking forward to the chance to meet up with a few Irish horses and Irish jockeys in Dubai tomorrow. And very shortly, and very excitingly, as the Minister has just announced, we will have an Irish Embassy here in the United Arab Emirates. I know that this is long-awaited and that you, on the ground, have been making the case for it for many years. In turn, I am sure, now that the decision has been taken, that the Embassy will be able to rely on your help and support in establishing the Embassy and in continuing to put Ireland on the map here in the Gulf. Moreover, Tourism Ireland, which markets the whole island of Ireland is to open a base in Abu Dhabi later this year and all of these things are very healthy signs of our faith in the future of our relationship with this region.
Under this roof we have evidence of a strong and united Irish community here in the Emirates. I know that some of you have travelled from Dubai, in what is still the working week - for which, a very big thank-you. The Irish have, throughout our history, had to be networkers par excellence for we have been an emigrating nation, curious about the world and its opportunities but also ever careful to keep alive our links to home and heritage. We search out one another, make community with one another but we also bring a taste of Ireland to share with our new friends, colleagues and neighbours in our new homelands. The spirit and enthusiasm of our scattered family is so evident here tonight, strong and heartening, it is a remarkable resource, for you are the face, the hands, the heart and soul of Ireland. You put us on the map here. Through you, people get to know of Ireland, hear of its people and also its potential. You help drive networks of business, culture, sport, government and friendship between Ireland and the Emirates. You bring two worlds into each other’s orbit, not as strangers but as friends and, in a world of uneasy relationships, that is an important investment in the development of the global human family.
That Irish culture and traditions endure and prosper here, that Ireland is well thought of here, that business flourishes between Ireland and the Emirates is down to your commitment, your passion and your generosity of spirit. It is an indomitable spirit, the spirit of the Gael. It has faced into many a difficulty and, though these times are fraught with economic difficulties, when we meet as we do here and feel the spontaneous friendship, the strong pull of community and love of our country and culture, we know that we have a unique and a mighty strength to see us through.
Ireland is fortunate in its family and in its friends. With your continuing help our friendship and business links with the Emirates will thrive in the decades ahead and maybe one day someone will figure out how to introduce the Emirates sunshine to a wet Irish day and the gentle Irish rain to a hot day in Abu Dhabi. That really would be a perfect partnership!
I once again thank you all very much for welcoming Martin and I here today and wish you all good luck in maintaining this wonderful community.
Go raibh míle, míle maith agaibh.