REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE CO-OPERATION IRELAND 25TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER, CROSBY HALL
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE CO-OPERATION IRELAND 25TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER, CROSBY HALL, LONDON, THURSDAY, 9 JUNE, 2005
Dia dhíbh a chairde go léir anocht. Tá an-áthas orm bheith i bhur measc ar an ócáid speisialta, ócáid stairiúil seo.
Mr Chairman, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to share this evening with you on what is a landmark occasion for Co-operation Ireland as it celebrates and reflects on twenty-five years of service to the cause of peace in Ireland. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to our host, Christopher Moran, chair of Co-operation Ireland in Britain, for his wonderful hospitality which allows us to enjoy the splendour of Crosby Hall with its links to Richard III and Thomas More. We know that the restoration of this fascinating building has been a labour of love for Christopher and while its rich history is a reminder of the complex and turbulent stories of our islands, we meet with our eyes fixed firmly on a future based on mutual respect, justice, peace and friendship.
Looking forward with optimism and hope has always been at the heart of the message of Co-operation Ireland and we gather tonight in gratitude for twenty-five years of witnessing to the need for change, the potential for change and the benefits that can come from replacing a culture of conflict with a culture of respect and maybe even consensus.
Back in 1980 when Co-operation Ireland first began its work, the violent conflict in Northern Ireland showed no sign of abating. The almost daily litany of death continued and it was evident that while the politicians struggled to find a way forward with little success, the social and historical context which had so deeply estranged Catholic and Protestant, North and South, Great Britain and Ireland, needed to be addressed at an altogether different level if there was to be any hope for a peaceful future. You recognised that the anger, hatred, bitterness and resentment arose first and foremost in the human heart. The dysfunction was compounded by separation, by ignorance of one another and misinformation about each other’s history and culture. It was sustained by an absence of normal everyday connectedness to one another and so you began the painstaking work of building practical person-to-person, cross-community and cross-border links. The scale of the work needed was and remains immense for as Ulster poet John Hewitt put it “ we build to fill the centuries arrears.” But the evidence is in that yours has been an invaluable contribution to reconciliation. From 1980, the year in which the Hunger Strikes began, you have nurtured the fragile seed of peace and watched it grow to a plant of considerable more robustness than it is often credited with. The evolving Peace Process and its offspring, the Good Friday Agreement, have vindicated your work in ways that are tangible and they are the outward evidence of the inward change of heart so necessary for a future based on equality, justice, mutual respect and peace.
As joint patron, along with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, whom I was delighted to meet again earlier this evening, I would like to commend the Board of Co-operation Ireland here in London for the huge investment you have made in peace and partnership building over the past two and a half decades. The friends and supporters of Co-operation Ireland, many of whom are here tonight were under no edict or command to take on this work but volunteered out of concern and out of care.
As a non-political and non-denominational group, you have provided a forum for all communities and very deservedly earned respect and support in Ireland and abroad, not just from Governments and other agencies and organisations but, perhaps most importantly, from the individuals, families and communities which you have supported in so many diverse ways. Your firm belief that diversity should be seen as a positive force with great potential stands in sharp contrast to the paralysing culture of fear and contempt which is comfortable only with “its own” and where the very otherness of the other is used as an excuse for exclusion. You have helped to chart a way out of history’s mess and to build a pathway to peaceful partnership and a truly egalitarian society. Here in Britain you have assisted in moving the relationships between Ireland and Great Britain onto a new plane. Our two neighbouring islands once far from neighbourly now enjoy the best of friendly relations and work harmoniously to ensure the full flowering of the Good Friday Agreement.
We recognise that the peace process is going through a particularly difficult and challenging period, yet it is important to be reassured by the transformation that has already taken place and taken root. You who have worked through even worse times than these are not easily taken in by the counsel of despair for you know better than most just how enormous are the changes that have taken place for the better and how strong the impulse is to maintain the momentum for peace. You know because you have been right at the very heart of the new dialogues and directions which are the harbingers of hope. You have seen the unlikely friendships that grow from your programmes and projects. You also know better than most that we are only at the beginning. “Centuries arrears” cannot realistically be filled in a short time but they can be and are being filled in. Your work is crucial. It is far from over and more necessary than ever as more and more people transcend their tentativeness, their hurt and their fear and reach across that chasm which has wasted so many lives and thrown away so many chances for exhilarating synergies, prosperous partnerships and fulfilling friendships. Your success has challenged them to think again, to accept the invitation that could let a better future in.
You don’t seek thanks or recognition for anything you do but you are owed the thanks of many. On behalf of those I am privileged to represent, I offer deepest thanks and appreciation to Co-operation Ireland, its friends and supporters here in Britain. Thank you for shortening the road to a future to be proud of.
Is iontach an obair atá ar siúl agaibh. Go raibh míle, míle maith agaibh.