REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND MARY McALEESE AT TYNESIDE IRISH CENTRE
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND MARY McALEESE AT TYNESIDE IRISH CENTRE TUESDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER, 2003
Dia dhíbh a chairde.
I am very happy that my first call during my visit to the Tyneside is at the Irish Centre. I know it is supported by a strong and vibrant Irish Community here in the North East and I am glad to have this opportunity to meet some of the people who play such a significant role in maintaining a strong Irish community identity here on Tyneside.
This Centre is very much the home of the Irish on Tyneside. And like the home of any large and creative family, it is constantly filled with the energy and craic of a dozen different projects all going on at once. A dancing school, a language class, tin whistle lessons, a social group, might all compete for space but each is layering up a unique set of shared memories, linking lives lived here with past generations of Irish men and women and with their sons and daughters in every corner of the globe.
This is the big scattered Irish family at its best, being good to one another, looking out for each other, handing on to the next generation the treasured gifts of music, dance, language and culture, putting those gifts at the service of this, your home city. This centre doesn’t happen by accident. People make it happen and I am particularly happy to meet today committee members past and present who stuck with the Centre and helped it to grow over the years – those wonderfully generous people who do what they do with no thought of thanks or reward. Without volunteers like you, many of the Irish Centres in this country would not, could not function and thanks to you, Irish culture is flourishing here in Tyneside and throughout the world.
Our community in Britain is an ageing one (present company excepted!) and with age come new needs, new fears and concerns. It is great to see that there is a very vibrant outreach here to the older members of the Irish community through the very successful Thursday Club. We owe that generation so much for they had none of the comforts or opportunities which we take for granted today and as the proverb says - Those who drink the water should remember with gratitude those who dug the well.
There can be no doubt that those of Irish descent on Tyneside have a keen sense of their unique Irish identity. Although emigration to Tyneside was at its height in the nineteenth century, the contribution made to the development and growth of the area by the Irish community since then has been immense. Some of you have been here for many years, some of you were born in Britain and yet you retain a very real sense of your Irish identity: your Irishness is a valued part of your self.
The complexity of identity as people live it in their daily lives is becoming an ever more important question at home in Ireland. We have a lesson to learn from the Irish abroad which will be vitally important as, for the first time in our history, we meet with people from other countries and contexts who wish to share our island with us. In our national story, there is a tendency to view migration as a tragedy. The reasons for leaving, the poverty and the lack of opportunity, were indeed the stuff of every day tragedy. For many, leaving did not loosen the ties with Ireland but strengthened them. Migration brought Irish hearts and minds to bear on new societies and fed new ideas and influences back to Ireland. This process of enrichment continues to this day. Migration no longer has the negative connotations for us it once had, no longer is it viewed as a threat but an opportunity. It challenges us and taps our potential - in a new context we find new talents and skills and outlooks we had not dreamed of. My hope is that Ireland too offers such exciting new contexts for people coming to our shores. And with each new blossoming of individual potential, our total store of human talent will grow.
The Irish have found fertile cultural soil on Tyneside. Irish traditional music and dance have flourished here for decades, alongside the distinct traditions of Northumbria and the profile of the Irish in the cultural field here has never been higher. For that we owe a vote of thanks to the hard work of teachers of music and dance who have dedicated themselves to the task of sharing the richness of music with new generations. This Centre is, I know, an important venue for traditional music and dancing and long may it remain so. Important events such as the Tyneside Irish Festival help to create and sustain a positive, attractive and confident image of the Irish in Britain and are a testament to the strength of the Irish Community spirit here on Tyneside.
I want to thank you for the warmth with which you have welcomed both Martin and I this morning. It is easy to feel at home here, thanks to your lovely welcome and it is great to know that this home from home offers that Irish welcome day in and day out to all who cross the threshold.
Go n-éiri go geal libh. Go raibh maith agaibh.