REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND MARY McALEESE AT BREAKFAST HOSTED BY NEWCASTLEGATESHEAD
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND MARY McALEESE AT BREAKFAST HOSTED BY NEWCASTLEGATESHEAD INITIATIVE
My thanks to you all for the very generous and warm welcome to Martin and I. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to meet with you this morning in this splendid location, and to have the chance to share some thoughts on the theme of ‘regeneration and culture’. In particular, I wanted to learn more and to commend you, the members of the NewcastleGateshead Initiative, on the tremendous - and in many ways groundbreaking - work you are doing in tackling the problems and meeting the challenges facing your city, both as individual organisations and companies, and collectively through this and other initiatives.
I believe that, although we in Ireland have very different social and economic backgrounds, there are many parallels between the problems facing you and those occurring in Irish towns and cities, including our capital city, Dublin.
Newcastle and Gateshead grew into great industrial centres in the nineteenth century, powerhouses of the North East, based on coal, steel and ships. Dublin also grew, but remained an administrative capital of a still mostly agrarian island as the Industrial Revolution largely passed Ireland by. But both cities, like many others, have been increasingly beset by similar problems, both economic and social.
The factors leading to urban blight can vary, but there are some constants. The decline of traditional industries, leading to long term unemployment; the existence of old, substandard or overcrowded housing; the rise of the suburb with more affluent housing and many shops and facilities, and the depletion of inner city districts by the new roads leading to suburbia. The resulting inner city decline creates breeding grounds for drug abuse, vandalism and crime, and creates major social problems which both Dublin and your city have had to face.
Here in NewcastleGateshead public agencies and business interests - yourselves, in other words - have been striving hard to reverse the economic and social decline which lies at the roots of urban blight. I am not just glad but reassured to learn that your efforts are bearing fruit. Unemployment is coming down towards UK averages, visitor numbers are increasing, and graduate retention has dramatically improved. These are things to lift hearts and renew hope for all of us feel a righteous indignation and at times frustration when we see the lives particularly of the young wasted in underachievement, in substance abuse and in anti-social behaviour. The malaise these problems generate is pervasive and it is very telling that while your focus might have been expected to remain on hard-nosed economics, in fact your vision has been considerably broader and all the more effective for making that crucial link between regeneration and cultural expression.
Why does the cultural dimension matter? It matters because the image and reputation of where you live affects everyone who lives there, both in their daily lives and in the longer term. This is true of streets, neighbourhoods and cities. It also forms the basis of opinions held by people who have never been here. It can affect investment decisions - is this a city where I want to build my factory, where I am happy to move with my family, where I can retain my key staff?
Others ask: is this a city I want to return to? - a crucial question for one of your most important resources - your educated young people. Many of them will have completed their training or education elsewhere, and it is vital for your future that significant numbers of them see NewcastleGateshead as the place where they want to make their lives. This has been a huge question for Irish people too, and it is perhaps the greatest blessing of our recent prosperity that so many of our global family are saying yes and returning to Ireland.
Planners and architects have learned that residential streets and workplaces are much more than functional spaces - they are where most people spend most of their lives. Despair and hopelessness, especially among the young or the unemployed, are highly corrosive of social bonds and civic responsibility. A more decorative and mentally stimulating environment, with more options and outlets for expressing interests and creativity, is a key element in giving people a sense that their city is more than just an economic or political unit, more than just a collection of bricks and mortar. It is a living, breathing community of people, a phenomenon that deserves respect but that must also show respect. There is a great definition of culture in the ambitious and impressive cultural strategy of Newcastle and Gateshead Councils:
“Culture is everything we don’t have to do to live, but need to do to feel alive. It is what gives meaning to our lives.”
And so the strategy includes the more commonly understood cultural manifestations like galleries, museums and heritage sites, all of which you boast in abundance here, but also festivals, open spaces, libraries, and playgrounds. It includes sport, such as football at St. James’ Park and the world renowned athletics at Gateshead International Stadium. And you lay great emphasis on public participation. So it is also about cricket in the park and the Great North Run, and about what seems to even the brief visitor an explosion of public sculpture and art on your streets, in public places and in sculpture trails. Equally you cherish what is best in your heritage, such as the revitalisation of Grainger Town, but also create bold statements of the modern and indeed the futuristic, such as the Sage Music Centre Gateshead.
This building, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts, seems to epitomise much of what you have achieved here. A landmark industrial building has been preserved, externally at least, retaining a striking presence along the river while being transformed internally into something very new and exciting. Today’s generation respecting the past but claiming its entitlement to make its own mark, do its own thing.
For many years the Tyne Bridge was perhaps the best known image of this city, its massive girders and advanced engineering a suitable reminder of what made the city great. Dublin too was often represented by a bridge, a small and elegant 18th Century footbridge over the Liffey known locally as the Ha’penny Bridge, named after the toll once levied on the crossing. These two bridges have been joined by new icons for a new age. Dublin this summer erected a dramatic and soaring Spire of stainless steel, commissioned to mark the Millennium, which towers 120 metres over the city centre. The finished structure has won over most of its critics, and will certainly be one of the most striking features of the city for a long time to come. It is a bold statement of the modern heart that beats in an old and lovely city, and of the importance of contemporary cultural symbols in representing and articulating its spirit.
Here on Tyneside you have added not one but two widely recognised icons to your panoply of attractions. The stunning and elegant Millennium Bridge, just below us here, is a beautiful solution to a practical need, and like Anthony Gormley’s massive Angel of the North, now established as symbolic not only of the city, but of the entire region.
It is entirely apposite that, inspired by this symbolism, the ten year cultural strategy for the city has been titled ‘Building Bridges’, referring not just to the many bridges that link Newcastle and Gateshead, but also the links between peoples and communities. It is an image that is particularly meaningful to me as I chose exactly that theme of Building Bridges for my Presidency - bridges between communities in Ireland, between the Irish people at home and abroad, and between Ireland and her friends and neighbours. It is in furtherance of these latter two aims that I am visiting Tyneside over these two days, and might I say that I have been made to feel very welcome.
The Irish have been a noticeable presence in Tyneside for nigh on two centuries, coming here principally in connection with the great engineering and transportation works and industries. They played their part in the construction and life of this city and are commemorated, among other places, in the Colours of the Tyneside Irish Regiment hanging in St. Mary’s Cathedral, where I unveiled a plaque yesterday. The Irish community is still thriving today, as witnessed by the Tyneside Irish Festival, and the flourishing tradition of Irish music and dance here, which includes synergies with traditional Northumbrian music. As a more modern and prosperous Ireland has emerged, Irish companies are also establishing themselves here to take advantage of the opportunities your region offers. I hope Irish people and companies continue to play a part in the development and future of this region for there is an instructive adventure ahead as the name of this region becomes increasingly synonymous with creativity, with cultural confidence, with successful urban regeneration embracing hearts and minds as much as landscapes.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I have found my visit to NewcastleGateshead very refreshing, impressive and enjoyable. I have learnt a lot and have been very heartened by the new heart you are putting into this city. Thanks to you, it is so clearly entitled to its recognition as one of Europe’s great cities of culture.
Thank you.