REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE 2003 STAR/TV3 BEST OF IRISH AWARDS
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE 2003 STAR/TV3 BEST OF IRISH AWARDS FOUR SEASONS HOTEL, BALLSBRIDGE, DUBLIN
Dia dhíbh a chairde. Tá lúcháir orm bheith anseo libh tráthnóna ar an ócáid speisialta seo. Go raibh maith agaibh as ucht bhur bhfáilte chaoin.
Ladies and gentlemen.
I am delighted to join you this evening at the Four Seasons Hotel for the 2003 Star/TV3 News Best of Irish Awards, in association with Waterford Crystal.
These Awards, now in their second year, provide an important showcase of the people whose lives lift our hearts, make us proud and reassure us about the human condition. No two award winners have the same story to tell but in some way they have inspired us and earned our respect through their talent, resourcefulness, passion, bravery, commitment or ingenuity. More than that, individually and collectively, they have made our country a better, a more hope-filled, place to live. Each is entitled to feel proud tonight. Nothing they did was done in order to win this recognition from the Best of Irish Awards. But the Awards are an important public acknowledgment that we as a community benefit enormously from good leadership, from courageous citizens, from unselfishness, from talent well-used, from the everyday decency and goodness of so many fine men, women and children. George Elliot once said “…. the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts, and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life).” These awards celebrate and highlight some of the work that is contributing to the growing good of Ireland. They also give great encouragement to all those who are struggling to do their best in our complex and often capricious world and so the awards themselves are making a crucial contribution to our growing good.
I wish to thank everyone associated with this event for making it such an enjoyable experience and such an evident success. I congratulate The Star and TV3 News in association with Waterford Crystal for their vision and generosity in creating the awards. I congratulate warmly, each of the monthly award recipients and the recipient of the special merit award. May you be encouraged to keep on being the best and through you may others be inspired to try their best.
Gura fada buan sibh. Go raibh maith agaibh.