REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS AT PRESENTATION OF NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS AT ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN ON THE PRESENTATION OF NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS
A Oirircis, a shoilsí, a Aire agus a dhaoine uaisle,
Cuireann sé áthas orm féin agus ar m'fhear céile, Máirtín, fáilte ó chroí a fhearadh romhaibh go léir chuig Áras an Uachtaráin. Tá mé an-bhuíoch díbh as na beannachtaí a chuir sibh orainne agus ar mhuintir na hÉireann uilig. Tá súil agam go mbeidh athbhliain faoi mhaise agaibh agus gúim sonas, sláinte agus buansíocháin oraibh go léir.
Your Excellency, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Excellencies, Minister Treacy, Ladies and Gentlemen, Girls and Boys.
I am delighted to welcome you and your families to Áras an Uachtaráin at the start of 2006. Your kind greetings and good wishes to Martin and myself and, through us, to the people of Ireland are deeply appreciated and now, through you, we offer to you, your families and your countries, our good wishes and those of the Irish people for the coming year. A warm welcome to old friends among you and a special welcome to those who are newly arrived. To all of you I hope Ireland is a happy place to live and work.
Today marks the start of the Eid al Adha feast and I extend my wishes for peace and prosperity to all those celebrating this important religious occasion.
When we met this time last year the word on everyone’s lips was “tsunami” for, of course, St. Stephen’s Day brought death and destruction on a horrendous scale to Asia. Around the world, men and women of goodwill harnessed a massive surge of compassion and turned it into a remarkable aid effort which will continue for many years to come. I am proud that between them our people and Government contributed over 100million euro to that great work of concern for one another that helps weave the world into a caring global family. How quickly that care was tested again when the earthquake in Pakistan in October took so many lives and reduced millions to dreadful living conditions made worse now by the onset of winter. In Africa too our attention was drawn to the desperation of those facing famine and the ravages of endemic conflict, corruption, disease and poverty. In all those places you will find Irish men and women working with colleagues from around the world to bring hope, comfort and a better future.
Our prayers today are with all those who are suffering and with those local and international people who are bravely trying to provide relief on the ground. They must also be with the efforts being made by governments, individuals and international agencies to eliminate world poverty and end the reckless waste of millions of tragic lives, generation after generation. Despite righteous criticism and disappointment, it is important to acknowledge that some progress has been made and a new urgency has been injected into efforts to achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. Particularly welcome was the collective agreement by the European Union member states to reach the UN ODA spending target of 0.7% by 2015 and our own Government’s commitment to reach the target by the earlier date of 2012. The world’s poor trust us to make good on these commitments, for their lives literally depend upon our conscience and our care.
Ireland attaches, as you know, considerable importance to the leadership, primacy and effectiveness of the United Nations, so we were honoured, in this year of change for that crucial body, when the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, was appointed as one of the Envoys of Secretary General, Kofi Annan, in the preparation for the World Summit in September.
While not succeeding on all fronts, the Summit made crucial advances on some major issues and the challenge now is to maintain the momentum for change. Just before Christmas, final agreement was reached on the Peace Building Commission, a body strongly advocated by Ireland as a bridge between conflict resolution and development, and a mechanism to ensure that countries emerging from crisis do not relapse. To underline our commitment, the Government is providing substantial funding for this initiative. It is important in the months ahead that agreement is reached on strengthened human rights machinery and on more effective management of the UN. In this year when Ireland celebrated fifty years of proud membership of the United Nations we want its goals and values to flourish as never before in the next fifty years, propelled by fresh determination and enthusiasm.
2005 was also the first full year for the enlarged European Union of twenty-five Member States. A new and extended European family is growing together and already the impact on Ireland has been marked. Since May 2004, we have welcomed 150,000 citizens from these countries to our shores. A nation with a long history of emigration is now host to significant numbers of people from other European countries with which, in the past, we have had only limited contact. These new colleagues, friends and neighbours deepen our understanding of Europe’s immense history and diversity at the same time as they contribute considerably to our civic life and our economy. Today I would like to recognise their important contribution to Irish life and to say how strongly I hope that their immigrant hearts will be helped to be happy and prosperous in Ireland by a people who have a unique, centuries-old experience of the hopes and the heartaches of the emigrant.
2005 was the year when the IRA announced an end to its armed campaign and the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning verified that the IRA’s arsenal had been put beyond use. These unprecedented and momentous developments allow us to believe that 2006 has the potential to be a defining year for the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. In the words of the Taoiseach: the peace process must leave no-one behind and there are many in both communities who look to the future to bring them full social inclusion and real opportunity. That day will come all the more quickly the more positive and constructive the relationships between the two communities in Northern Ireland and between North and South.
The two Governments are working assiduously to rebuild sufficient confidence and momentum in the political process so that there can be a successful restoration of the political institutions this year. A stable and lasting peace depends upon it.
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, as we look back on the year past with all its complexities and its unanticipated challenges, the demands made on you and the sheer importance of your work comes into sharp focus. As representatives of your countries, you and your families lead tough lives that demand many personal sacrifices in the pursuit of improved international cooperation. You bridge so many gaps that humanity, geography and history have created. You make pathways to peace, to cultural curiosity, to economic partnerships, and without your efforts the web that holds the world together would be altogether weaker and less robust. I thank each of you for the care you take of the work you do and I thank your families too for the sacrifices they make so that you can do your jobs so well. In particular, I thank you for befriending Ireland and for helping Ireland develop fluent, friendly and effective relationships all around the world.
I hope that 2006 will be good to each of you personally and to your countries.
I want to thank Your Excellencies again for your kind wishes which are warmly reciprocated.
Guím rath agus sonas oraibh go léir.
I would now like to propose a toast –
TO THE HEADS OF STATE HERE REPRESENTED.