REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO THE IRISH ASSOCIATION SOCIAL CLUB ON ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO THE IRISH ASSOCIATION SOCIAL CLUB ON ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER DANCE, MANCHESTER
Dia dhíbh, a cháirde go léir. Ta áthas mór orm bheith anseo i bhur measc anocht ar an ócáid speisialta, ócáid stairiúil seo.
Martin and I would like to thank each of you for that wonderful warm Mancunian/Irish welcome to this Golden jubilee celebration of the Irish Association Social Club. Martin and I are at the time in our lives where an invitation to a 50th birthday party is really good news.
Does anybody really want to remember those bad old days of 1955? On this night it is right that we should. There are people in this room who remember them well. They remember the Ireland they came from, the England they came to. They remember heartache and hope. They remember the loneliness that only an emigrant knows and how it brought them to seek each other out, to offer each other friendship and support as they built new lives far from all that was familiar and loved. They know how vital this Association has been to generations of Irish. It has been family and community. It has been home from home. It has been information centre and door opener for many a newcomer. It has been a nurturer of Irish culture, a place of unfailing Fáilte, a showcase of all that is good about Ireland and about being Irish. It has been a place to be proud of Manchester and Ireland in equal measure as the two worlds met here and wove the intricate story of the lived lives of the Manchester Irish. It has been an integral part of the global network of mutual care that makes the scattered Irish and those at home, members of one global Irish family.
Without this Association what would life have been like? Impossible to imagine how much colder life would have been without the memories, the friendships, the established system of care, the feeling of belonging. Now a confident, prosperous generation gathers in a time when the tide of emigration has been reversed and Ireland, that once impoverished, underachieving place has taken her place among the foremost wealthy nations of the world, supremely successful, culturally dynamic, peaceful and prosperous as never before in her history. Her relationship with this neighbouring island has never been healthier or friendlier. The recent Troubles which impacted so devastatingly on this city are on their way to resolution thanks to the slow but steady advance of the Peace Process. If the future seems a much more attractive place then it is thanks to the sacrifice and often the suffering, the commitment and the determination of so many who lived in that very different past and who decided to work unselfishly to create a better future. There is a Chinese proverb which I pinched from Bishop Martin Drennan, Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin for this occasion - let those who drink the water remember with gratitude those who dug the well.
So let us remember with gratitude those who came here because there was no choice but the emigrant boat, who kept faith with their homeland, who sent back hard-earned pounds and shillings, who brought our music and dance, our poetry and stories, our Irish language and sports to the heart of life in Britain, who brought our ethic of care for one another and put it to work in Associations like this, linking Ireland and Manchester, bridging the gap from generation to generation, keeping us in touch with one another, keeping Ireland’s family close.
We thank them all tonight and think of them with pride and fondness. We remember especially that small group of people who established the club all those years ago, the late John Donelon, together with Tom Finnigan, Michael McKeown and Martin Flynn and all those who were instrumental in getting it on its feet. I think of that inspirational community builder Monsignor Sewell who built up a formidable support service for Manchester’s new Irish citizens giving over half a century of priestly service here. No grants in those days, nothing but an idea and sheer hard work. And how it has all paid off as we salute Manchester’s Irish community, a flourishing, successful community whose contribution to this great city and its hinterland is legendary and whose achievements have brought great pride to the city and to Ireland.
I’m sure Ambassador O’Ceallaigh will forgive me, indeed agree when I say that this Association through the years has provided some of the very finest unpaid ambassadors for our country and our culture. Tonight is an occasion to take righteous pride in all you have accomplished through this Association in its fifty years of service to Ireland’s sons and daughters. Our culture, heritage and sport are thriving here thanks to you and many charities have depended on your generosity including one I met earlier today at the Irish World Heritage Centre, Irish Community Care – one of the largest Irish Community groups here in Britain. With your help their work makes the difference between enduring life and enjoying life for an awful lot of people. We think tonight especially of the elderly Irish men and women who arrived with little education, worked in poor employment and have little comfort today to show for lives of hard work and heartache. Caught now in a time warp it is so important they are not forgotten and I know that here you do your best to make sure they feel remembered and valued.
Today’s Manchester, like today’s Ireland is brimming over with a new confidence, a comfortable cosmopolitanism and the economic energy you would expect from a multi-ethnic city with three thriving universities. Both are places of opportunity and hope and we are all beneficiaries of the generous legacy of those who tilled the ground in much more difficult times. Tonight we express our gratitude for fifty years of the Manchester Irish Association Social Club and we commit ourselves to making the next fifty the best ever for Manchester, for Ireland and for our Irish family wherever it makes its home.
My sincere thanks to Noel, Brian and Frank for inviting me, to the Committee members for the hard work that went in to this evening and to each of you for the craic and the companionship that will I know make this anniversary celebration very memorable. May the Irish Association Social Club flourish for many a day to come.
Comhghairdeas libh arís agus go n-éiri go geal libh. Go raibh maith agaibh.