REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE AT THE ST. PATRICK’S DAY RECEPTION
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE AT THE ST. PATRICK'S DAY RECEPTION HOSTED BY THE LORD MAYOR
Lord Mayor, friends, a chairde Gael. Tá mé an-buíoch díbh as an gcuireadh agus an fáilte a thug sibh dom teacht anseo inniu. Is mór an pleisiúir dom bheith i bhur measc i Sydney ar an ócáid speisialta seo.
Mayor Sartor, thank you for the warm and generous welcome you extended to my husband Martin and I this morning as we look forward to viewing the St. Patrick's Day Parade in your beautiful city.
The support you have given the parade during your twelve years as Lord Mayor, is deeply appreciated by the Irish community in Sydney and the Irish people. In this most cosmopolitan and comfortable of multi-cultural cities, our rich Irish cultural heritage is among the most vibrant of the threads, which make up its exciting tapestry. In your company I feel I ought to acknowledge that of course St. Patrick was not an Irishman but was in fact a Roman citizen. Today we are happy to share our great national saint with emigrant peoples from all over the world, for no-one knew the heart and soul of the emigrant as well as Patrick who came to Ireland a poor, lonely and ill-educated stranger and out of adversity created an enduring and inspirational legend.
Since 1842 there has been a St Patrick's Day Parade in Sydney thanks to the dedicated hard work of one generation after another. Each has cherished the baton of care for this great day of celebration and each has put its own stamp on the festivities.
Today we owe thanks to Cork-born Frank O'Connell, and other members of the Parade Committee who have worked with a heart and a half for no pay other than the enjoyment others will get from the day, to create a showcase of the best of Irish culture. I would also like to pay tribute to the Irish and Australian-Irish groups who enter the Parade each year giving it the character and colour which are the memories we will take away. We are a blessed generation, prosperous, self-confident members of two modern dynamic democracies at opposite ends of the globe but inextricably linked by history and by hearts. The generation which first met on the streets of Sydney in 1842 sowed the seeds of the harvest we will reap this day. I have no doubt that they would be proud of the two countries they loved above all others and prouder still that all these years later Ireland and Australia have bonds of affection and kinship that are renewed in every generation.
For all our advantages, we live in deeply troubled and troubling times and it is in precisely such times that the Irish love of life and relish of company comes into its own, offering a day of fun, music, dance, pageantry, such as to take our minds and hearts to an image of our world as it could be and some day, will be.
Lord Mayor,
Thank you for welcoming us to this historic Town Hall on this special day. May St. Patrick bless this beautiful city, its people and its civic leaders.
Beannachtaí Lá Féile Pádraig oraibh go léir. Go raibh maith agaibh.