REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE, AT THE EMERALD BALL, TOKYO, SATURDAY, 19 MARCH
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE, AT THE EMERALD BALL, TOKYO, SATURDAY, 19 MARCH, 2005
Your Imperial Highness, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
Tá an-áthas orainn bheith anseo libh anocht ag an am speisialta seo. Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh go léir.
I am so happy to be present on this very special night for the Irish and the friends of Ireland in Japan. My thanks to Gerry Lanigan, President of the Ireland Fund of Japan, and Elizabeth Lally, chairwoman of the Emerald Ball committee, for the efforts they devoted to making this evening such a wonderful, friendly and fascinating occasion.
I am also very happy to be once again in the company of Princess Takamado, whom I had the pleasure of meeting during that wonderful summer two years ago when Ireland hosted special athletes from countries right around the world - including Japan - at the Special Olympics Summer Games.
We meet this evening at what is the fourteenth annual Emerald Ball to be held in Tokyo. Throughout that time, it has been a showcase for the best of Irish hospitality - a gala of music and dance, of good food, good company and good craic, celebrated not just by the Irish community but by the friends they have made for Ireland among their Japanese neighbours and colleagues. The success of this annual event is a tribute to the determination and imagination of the Irish and Japanese volunteers who make it happen, as well as the generosity of those who have supported it over the years. It is also a testament to the deepening relationship between Ireland and Japan.
There are certainly many barriers that separate our two island nations – thousands of miles of land and ocean, and separate tracks of history, culture and language. But if insularity was sometimes a theme in the history of both countries, then in more recent times an open, international outlook and an active participation in the global society have become defining features of both Ireland and Japan. This has obviously been to the immense benefit of people in both countries, in all aspects of our lives. And now that the world has become a considerably smaller place than it once was, our two peoples have begun to experience a deeper and more mutually beneficial contact than the simple inheritance of history and geography would have allowed us.
The relationship between Ireland and Japan now encompasses not only our strong economic links, but also the full range of cultural, educational, political and social ties, not to mention those binding ties of human interest and friendship which make life so fulfilled and worthwhile.
The Irish community here is small though it has grown from a handful of people to some two thousand in recent years. They are the people through whom the character of the Irish is first showcased to the people of Japan. You are the unpaid ambassadors whose lives help to explain our nature, our music, dance and language. That investment of your lives and talents in Japan has contributed solidly to the strengthening fabric of friendship between Ireland and Japan and has done much to cultivate and strengthen the bonds between our two countries.
It is a matter of great pride and delight to me as President of Ireland to be able to travel so very far from home, and yet be among such a dynamic and growing Irish family, who love both their homeland and their adopted homelands and who are powerful champions of both Ireland and Japan. Another source of pride and celebration is the sharing of this event with so many Japanese who have an interest in all things Irish. We are humbled by your enthusiasm for our music, dance, literature and film and I remember from my attendance at the Asian Gaelic Games in Thailand a few years ago that the Japanese seemed to have a natural talent for Gaelic football. To reassure you that the interest is two ways - Japanese is the fastest growing language in Ireland among those studying foreign languages. Our great cultures have so much to learn from each other and the work of the Ireland Fund of Japan which is to benefit financially from this night, will help us build the links of care and curiosity between Ireland and Japan which will enhance our children’s lives.
Just last month I hear, the Ireland Fund hosted a welcoming event for the Irish athletes participating in the Special Olympics World Games in Nagano and tonight sees the launch of a new initiative, an exchange programme between primary school teachers and students in Ireland and Japan. No other generation of children has grown up in a world of such freedom and opportunity and we hope they will invest wisely in weaving their own strong threads into the fabric that links our two far-flung but friendly countries and cultures. We enjoy this present feast of food and music that they may enjoy a future of friendship.
Your Imperial Highness, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me conclude by raising a toast – to the continuing friendship between the people of Ireland and the people of Japan.
Kampai ! Sláinte !