REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE ROYAL ULSTER AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY BALMORAL SHOW
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A BREAKFAST HOSTED ON THE OCCASION OF THE ROYAL ULSTER AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY BALMORAL SHOW
Good morning, thank you for the invitation and the welcome to the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society’s legendary annual Balmoral Show today. I’d particularly like to thank the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Michelle Gildernew, for her invitation to join you this morning. For me, this is quite a trip down memory lane for although I have not attended the Show in recent years it was, of course, a regular childhood day out as my farm-reared parents tried to keep their city children in touch with their rural roots.
As we gather for the 142nd Balmoral Show, it is worth remarking on the many phases of history it has survived. Through war and peace, prosperity and recession, it has been a witness to three centuries and many changes. It takes place today in a time of profound transformation as citizens of all politics and persuasions gather behind the Peace Process and work together to form one reconciled community out of two divergent traditions. It takes place at a time when the once-fraught cross-border relationship is characterized by a growing good neighbourliness and cooperation. The peace is not perfect and it has its would-be wreckers as well as the predictable challenges that come from delivering effective government using a radical new model of powersharing.
But all around us we can see evidence of improved temper of the times and the growing benefits that come from the resource of dialogue and collegiality in the civic, commercial and political spheres. I know that Minister Gildernew and her ministerial colleagues in the NI Executive very much value their contact with their opposite numbers in Dublin. The farming communities North and South have long since developed a very fruitful culture of collaboration. In an era of global, financial turmoil and distress with serious local consequences and with volcanic plumes capriciously disrupting air links to this island, we need more than ever the friendship of our neighbours, for it is the close-to-home business and tourism opportunities which we are capable of creating and developing between us, that offer us a realistic and achievable set of opportunities at this economically difficult juncture.
There are some encouraging signs that the economy is beginning to emerge from recession. The economic downturn has sharpened our focus on the huge potential of the agri-food industry and now we need to fully galvanise the momentum that will harvest that potential, restoring jobs, profitability and securing financial stability. This island North and South has a great opportunity to present a common face to the world as sharers of an island that is clean and green, a centre of excellence for agri-food and related industries, a place where the food chain from the farmers up is utterly credible, creative and wholesome. With its reliance on indigenous raw materials and its strong export performance, there is no doubt that it can be a key driver of economic recovery. There is great reassurance in the ever closer collaboration evident in agri-food research, including through the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Development – an area of strength and real achievement of which we can all be proud.
The North-South Ministerial Council meetings on agriculture, which you co-chair Minister, are demonstrating the value of an all-island approach to issues like animal health and welfare and measures to prevent the spread of diseases between herds. These issues affect both jurisdictions and are no respecters of borders. By harnessing our resources in a combined and joined up way, together we can develop a much more complete and efficient solution than through separate, uncoordinated measures.
Those who founded the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society more than 150 years ago believed in collective effort and in pooling resources in order to promote the common good. The technology showcased here today might just as well be from a different planet but the values are just the same as they were back in the 19th century – values of care for the land, for animals and crops, for a good and reliable food chain, for strong agricultural families and communities, for a healthy society and a dynamic agricultural sector at its core. Here at Balmoral that industry, which is the backbone of this entire island, is proudly showcased and here those who are the hands and heart of its work demonstrate that agriculture in Northern Ireland is both locally and internationally a centre of agri-food gravity. I hope that the huge effort which has gone into organising the Show will be rewarded with many happy visitor faces and a lot of good business deals. Thank you for your invitation to be here today and I hope you all enjoy what promises to be a wonderful Show.