REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE STATE BANQUET, BERLIN MONDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2008
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE STATE BANQUET, BERLIN MONDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2008
President Köhler, Frau Köhler, ladies and gentlemen,
Mein Mann und ich freuen uns sehr, hier in Berlin zu sein und diesen wunderbaren Abend mit Ihnen und Frau Köhler erleben zu dürfen.
We are deeply honoured to have been received by you in Berlin today, and I greatly appreciate your kind words of welcome to this great city.
Geography has never been much of a barrier to relationships between Ireland and Germany. Long before the era of daily flights between us, medieval Irish monks and scholars set out in frail boats to make connections that resound still down through the centuries. Our Saint Killian became your Bishop of Würzburg and his name is well remembered even today, fourteen centuries later. Then there was the scholarly traffic that came the other way, bringing to our shores nineteenth century philological legends like Johann Caspar Zeuss and Kuno Meyer, champions without peer of the revival of our Irish language and culture.
Then too there have been many individuals whose lives have woven our countries together as the turbulent tides of history tossed their lives in unexpected directions. Showcasing the strength of that warp and weft that link us is the fact that the tradition of Celtic studies still thrives in German universities, while in Ireland, we re-pay the compliment for Trinity College Dublin’s German Department dates back to 1776 and is thought to be the oldest in the world outside of Germany.
Today our extensive relationship is grounded in our joint membership of the EU. Germany is Ireland’s fourth largest trading partner and the second largest investor in Ireland after the US. Around 250 German companies are present in Ireland and thousands of German tourists visit us each year. There is intensive traffic in the other direction also, as Irish business people and investors explore the opportunities available in the German market. Our respective citizens have intermarried, studied together, worked together, some live here, some live in Ireland. We enjoy each others’ literature and music and each others’ company. We are privileged in this generation to share a European identity that grows steadily stronger year by year.
When Heinrich Böll portrayed Ireland in his “Irish Journal” of the mid-1950s, it was a far cry from the Ireland of today. Membership of the EU and successive enlargements of the Union have helped transform Ireland from poor, underachieving, post-colonial stagnation with huge outward migration and high unemployment to a land of opportunity, prosperous, dynamic and cosmopolitan.
Today the citizens of Ireland and Germany are much more than casually related by eclectic individual links. We are partners of the European Union. That means we not only share citizenship of the Union but we share a common vision and responsibility for its future. We both see our Union as a global bulwark of peace, prosperity, democracy, stability and justice. We are both committed to strengthening our Union and making it an effective witness to all that is humanly decent in our world. During your excellent Presidency last year, Germany succeeded in securing political agreement on the Reform Treaty, which of course, is now subject to ratification, in line with the different requirements in each of the member States. In Ireland we look forward to a full debate of the issues in preparation for our forthcoming referendum on ratification.
On this occasion it is right to remember and cherish the role played by German statesmen in the construction of the European Union in the aftermath of an appalling war, its devastating waste and its bitter enmity. Out of such chaos came the greatest and most noble attempt at interstate solidarity and collegiality ever undertaken by humankind - a Union of equals underpinned by democratic values, human rights and energised by a common focus on a shared future characterised by peace and prosperity.
It was the first Chancellor of the German Federal Republic, that great statesman, Konrad Adenauer, who said “European unity was a dream of the few. It became a hope for many. It is today a necessity for all.” Ireland shares that vision.
Thank you, President, and Frau Köhler- vielen Dank - for the warm welcome you have extended to Martin and me today. We are delighted to be with you and we look forward to a wonderful couple of days in Germany.
I will now ask you all to join with me in a toast – to the health and prosperity of the President and people of Germany and to friendship between our two countries.