REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO THE DERRY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE THURSDAY, 11 APRIL, 2002
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO THE DERRY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE THURSDAY, 11 APRIL, 2002
It is good to be back in Derry and particularly good to have been asked to address this business lunch of Derry’s legendary hardworking and successful Chamber of Commerce. My thanks to Alan McClure and the members of the chamber for the kind invitation and the welcome.
One of the reasons why I relish returning to this city is because it is an outstanding example of the new mood which has taken hold in Northern Ireland, a mood resolutely focussed on the future and on bringing prosperity and peace to everyone through partnership. Here in this city the evidence of that spirit of regeneration through joint endeavour is all around in the cultural and economic vibrancy which has renewed hope and has helped to stitch together a new fabric of shared civic pride and civic strength. Those words, easily strung together mask a story of enormous endeavour which this chamber knows only too well, a story of huge efforts made by individuals and groups, of risks taken, personal risks, financial risks, of minds changed, some by the power of persuasion, and more by the evidence of success, of a sustained faith in the future even when the omens were awful, of a tenacious commitment to this city and its people which has inspired men and women to transcend fears and doubts and to imagine a “bright, brand new day”, a story that has gone from dream to legend in a very short space of time. For the transformation you have made here and are continuing to develop day in and day out has now taken on the status of legend which in turn inspires other people and other places to re-imagine their own future. Now, when the name of Derry is mentioned it is not to reflect sadly on its fate but to remark with admiration on its future.
You have a young, well-educated and fast-growing population considered to be among the most outward looking and vibrant in Europe and so it is no surprise that Derry is set to become one of the key Information Technology centres of Europe. This city on the very outer fringes of the European Union challenges the idea that with distance comes remoteness, for your position as the gateway to the North West with its natural hinterland districts of Strabane, Limavady and Letterkenny, has meant that Derry is a crucial cultural and economic engine of the North West region.
Your confidence in this city and its potential is clearly shared by a lot of people. The recent establishment of the Dublin–Derry Airlink is indicative of the role Derry plays as a dynamic regional hub and of course it must have been very gratifying to all those slogging away at the coal face to receive the Northern Ireland Tourist Board’s recent recognition of the work that the local business community here is putting into promoting tourism in the region. Add in the fact that the Great Southern Hotel Group have opened a new hotel here and you begin to see what is meant by the words – peace dividend.
Here in Derry and the North West region, the simple and incontrovertible logic of approaching issues on a cross border, co-operative basis is plain to see. Enhanced co-operation in trade and business development enables us to take advantage of economies of scale; to find and harvest economic synergies; and to develop mutually beneficial strategic approaches to economic development which strengthen the capacity of this area to compete effectively in Europe and beyond.
The vital role played by the Derry Chamber of Commerce in facilitating and promoting economic development in the region is well recognised by all those wishing to do business in this area. Your building of close co-operation with development agencies and other organisations in the North West and Cross Border region has been an integral part of your success. I too, was proud to have been asked to play a part in another of your successes when I launched the North West Chambers of Commerce Initiative last May - an innovative and very valuable project highlighting ways in which the private sector can work in unison to promote the entire North West region, on both sides of the border, as an integrated package.
I am thrilled to see so many new ideas and initiatives flowing from that determination to maximise the strength of the region and in particular to see things like the North West Cross Border Training Initiative, with its focus on building up the skills, experience and confidence of those who are unemployed through computer and tele-skills training to unemployed people, and the EURES Cross Border Partnership which offers facilities for those who live on one side of the border but work on the other. It is worth remembering that behind these initiatives, partnerships and schemes are real life opportunities for men and women, boys and girls to change their lives, to create infinitely better choices for themselves than ever before, to see their own gifts and talents revealed and developed, to know what it is to waken up and face the day with a heart and a half instead of half-heartedly. The new energy released into the lives of each human being doesn’t stop there - it radiates out, to their families, streets, communities, to their country. The benefits that are intangible and immeasurable are as important and maybe even more important than the job statistics that are measurable.
One of the saddest things about underemployment and underachievement is their sheer wastefulness. The talents and gifts that lie inside human hearts and hands stay undiscovered or unused, and not only does the human person never know his or her own strength but the community never truly knows its own destiny. Similarly, this island has never known its true strength, for so much of the potential that lay in working together was disregarded or ignored through all the decades that people saw the border as a place to stand back to back to each other rather than as a challenge to work hand in hand.
North/South co-operation has a particular immediacy and significance in Derry. We know that decades of living with that “back turned to back” phenomenon created both very real and perceived barriers which hindered North/South trade and prohibited businesses from realising their full potential. It mystifies our colleagues in Europe when they hear that after half a century of trying to break down trade barriers across the continent, this tiny island has the distinction of having the European Union land barrier with traditionally the lowest commerce across it. It doesn’t make sense does it to have goods to sell but to refrain from selling them to the nearest and most accessible market. Remarkable as it may seem given our proximity to each other, what is often perceived as the biggest obstacle to trade is lack of awareness of each other’s markets and business cultures. Many companies, both North and South, are apprehensive about exploring possibilities on ‘the other side’ of the border due, it seems, in no small way, to preconceived and unsubstantiated ideas of the difficulties that would present themselves. For example, such reluctance is often based on the misplaced belief that there are large bureaucratic and political impediments to doing so.
Thankfully organisations such as yours have been working hard to dispel this belief, with a vision of the benefits to be shared by both parts of Ireland through an all-island approach to economic development. The development of networks of trust between business communities across the island, and an increase in the tangible economic benefits of co-operation are important factors in the consolidation of the Good Friday Agreement and in ensuring that both traditions on this island can enjoy a more prosperous and peaceful future.
It is sometimes hard to believe that some four years have passed since the Good Friday Agreement came into being, changing as it did the relationship between both parts of the island - a relationship now based on the principles of consent, partnership, equality and co-operation – a relationship that recognises that North/South co-operation can benefit everybody and need not threaten anyone.
Organisations such as InterTradeIreland and Tourism Ireland are excellent examples of North/South co-operation for our mutual benefit. They show what can be done, what is being done. Somewhere inside all of us, whatever the doubts and fears, whatever the prejudices and preconceptions, we know that the future lies in working comfortably and respectfully together. We also know that there is no substitute for the simple human endeavour of getting to know each other. It is the seedbed of friendship and out of that friendship we hope will come networks of mutual endeavour. This gathering is one such network - you know well that shared experiences and shared skills do not divide the experience or the skill, but rather multiply their reach and their effectiveness. The evidence is here in your city that co-operation works.
The future is a place we all want a part of and we all have a responsibility to. It’s a responsibility that lies heavily on politicians but not exclusively on politicians. It rests on every human being who hopes there will be peace on the streets, a job with decent wages, a community that cares, a civic society that is confident and comfortable with its many different strands. Your chamber has already shown how to keep focussed on the path to that society. You could so easily, each of you, have turned away from the kind of public service this chamber embraces, you could each have given all your energies simply to your own business, but you knew with a passion that there was so much to be gained from acknowledging our connectedness to one another, to finding out what our harnessed, collective strength can accomplish. I congratulate you for what you have achieved and what you are set to achieve in the years ahead and I thank you all for your very warm welcome to me today.