REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE, AT THE FEDERATION OF IRISH SOCIETIES BUSINESS LUNCHEON
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE, AT THE FEDERATION OF IRISH SOCIETIES BUSINESS LUNCHEON, MILTON KEYNES, FRIDAY, 15 JUNE, 2007
Distinguished guests, and members of the community
Dia dhíbh a cháirde go léir inniu. Tá an-áthas orm bheith libh tráthnóna agus táim thar a bheith buíoch as ucht an fáilte is fiche a chuir sibh romhaim agus roimh m’fhear chéile Máirtín.
My thanks to the Federation of Irish Societies for your kind invitation to the opening of the 34th annual Congress of the Federation of Irish Societies. I doubt very much if this Congress has ever met in more remarkable times than these. So many things that used to make life difficult for the Irish are at last being straightened out. The three key relationships between Ireland and Great Britain, between the communities in Northern Ireland and between Ireland North and South have all moved into a completely new and hope-filled era. There is a greater confidence in the future and a lot of pride in the ability of this generation to solve the problems that so skewed life for previous generations. The organisations represented here have championed the Irish in Britain through bad times and good. You have been family to one another, looking out for the newcomer, the lost and the vulnerable; you have been community to one another, bringing the best of Irish culture into the heart of life here; you have been advocates for one another and all-round great ambassadors for Ireland.
Milton Keynes is a perfect example of changed times and fresh optimism within the Irish Community for I have just come from its wonderful new Irish centre, the first new Irish centre to be built in Britain for 22 years and a huge credit to all those who dared to dream it and who delivered it. Already membership has doubled and services are expanding - evidence of a surging enthusiasm and fresh energy.
We have a saying in Ireland that two shortens the journey. Irish men and women have made countless journeys, many of them the lonely one-way journeys of the emigrant to new homes, new countries and strange cultures. Those journeys and those lives, torn between old home and new homeland at the same time, were made much easier to bear by Irish Centres like the one I have just visited – a place where people could hear familiar voices, share experiences, listen to the music of their own rich culture and talk of news from home.
Irish men and women came to Britain in their thousands. Their children and grandchildren were born here and today a confident, educated, high-achieving generation looks with pride on its forbears who bore poverty and disadvantage with great dignity; who made huge personal sacrifices so that the generations to come would know success and prosperity in every sphere of civic life, making Ireland proud of her emigrant children.
Long before there was even a hint of a Celtic Tiger, they believed in Ireland’s great potential. Their pounds and pennies sent back from building sites and factories bridged the gap to better times at home. Their championing of Irish culture brought the gift of our sport, music, dance, song, literature and drama to new audiences and new generations, who, while born in Britain, grew up with a pride in their family’s Irish roots and identity. Today they are part of a huge Irish family scattered around the world, a privileged generation, the first to see Ireland blessed with peace, prosperity and partnership, a magical confluence greatly helped by our family abroad and their practical help always so willingly offered.
It is good to see that vibrant Irish identity adding to the warp and weft of Milton Keynes, one of the fastest growing districts in Britain today and I am particularly proud that the stature of the Irish community here is reinforced by the presence at this luncheon of the Mayor of Milton Keynes, Councillor Mike Barry and his wife Cheryl, Councillor Euan Henderson, Deputy Leader of the Council and Councillor Kevin Wilson, leader of the Labour Group, as well as many members of the Milton Keynes business community. It looks like you have a formidable partnership here which will bring out the very best of the entire borough of Milton Keynes.
To the army of volunteers, professionals, public representatives and all others represented here today who work so passionately on behalf of the Irish community on this our neighbouring island, I say a warm and heartfelt thank you. I hope the changed backdrop, the lifting clouds will shorten the road for all of us to the very best story yet for the Irish community in Great Britain.
Go n-éirí go geal libh ‘s go raibh maith agaibh.