Speech at an Intercultural Garden Party to Celebrate World Refugee Day
Áras an Uachtaráin, 24th June 2015
Tugann sé an-áthas do mo bhean-chéile Saidbhín agus dom féin fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir go dtí Áras an Uachtaráin tráthnóna. Tá súil agam go bhfuil sibh uilig ag baint taitneamh as bhur gcuairt ar an teach agus ar na gairdíní.
[Sabina and I are delighted to welcome you all to Áras an Úachtaráin this afternoon. I hope you are all enjoying your visit to the house and gardens.]
The garden party season is a special time of the year here in Áras an Uachtaráin, the home of the President, as it gives Sabina and I an opportunity to meet members of communities across Ireland, to hear from them, and to share with them for a while this beautiful house and its grounds.
This is a particularly special event today as we welcome here to the Áras representatives of the many new communities, drawn from many regions across the world, who have established themselves and their families in Ireland.
Those who have come have changed our country in remarkable ways, they have enriched our culture and our community, and they have enhanced all of our lives.
Ireland has changed dramatically in recent years with a significant increase in the diversity of our nation resulting from inward migration. Ireland is a country with its own long history of migration and we understand perhaps better than most what it is like to leave your homeland to build a new life overseas. It is appropriate then that we should approach the changing pattern of migration into our country in a spirit of openness and hospitality – hospitality being the great universal and unifying value that connects all of the faith systems and languages of the world.
The greatest number of those who have made their homes here have come from within the European Union and come here to work and study. Others have come as migrants from other regions of the world with the aim of establishing a life here where they can match their skills to the needs of our society.
Others still come here seeking our protection, and in this week of World Refugee Day Sabina and I are especially pleased today to welcome here so many who have come to Ireland as refugees. I met the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon here just a few weeks ago and we discussed the challenges associated with the global crisis of migration and refugees. To mark World Refugee Day this week, the Secretary General said:
"Refugees are people like anyone else, like you and me. They led ordinary lives before becoming displaced, and their biggest dream is to be able to live normally again ... let us recall our common humanity, celebrate tolerance and diversity and open our hearts to refugees everywhere."
Here today we have representatives of the many different groups and nationalities who have been recognised as refugees in Ireland over several decades.
These include the different programme refugee communities that have settled in Ireland since the first group from Hungary in 1956, and include, among others, communities from Vietnam, Iran, Bosnia, Chile, Sudan, Eritrea, Burma – and most recently from Syria. We also welcome today representatives of the various different groups of convention refugees who have come to Ireland from all corners of the world in more recent decades. We recognise and welcome too, those who have been afforded subsidiary protection in our country and those who have come here under family reunification protections, as well as representatives of those currently seeking asylum in our country.
This is an opportunity for me as President of Ireland to welcome you all here to the home of the President and to say – you are welcome in our home and you are most warmly welcome in our country.
The obligation to provide protection and shelter to those who have faced persecution, war and natural disaster is a defining and fundamental moral obligation for all states, but this obligation carries a special poignancy for Ireland as a country of migration and as a republic based on the principles of universal rights.
As we begin the process of commemorations around the centenary of 1916, I believe that the values of our republic articulated in the Proclamation speak directly to our role as a moral and engaged member of the international community. At a time when we are witnessing an upsurge of extreme and exclusive forms of nationalism throughout Europe, it is more important than ever that the Irish Tricolour should be seen, not only as an emblem of peace and brotherhood between the various communities who live on the island of Ireland, but also as a banner of inclusion and republican ideals and values.
Many of us may at times decry the unfulfilled idealism of our founding patriots, but in recognising that the work of building an inclusive and equal Ireland is ongoing, we might consider that we will be judged by future generations by how we treated those who present themselves at our borders as strangers in difficulty.
Did we consider the position of the migrant and refugee from the standpoint of empathy, compassion and identification, or from the grudging perspective of difference and separation?
While there are international obligations laid down in law regarding the protection of refugees, different national cultures reveal their strengths and weaknesses in how these are interpreted and implemented in practice. In recent weeks, Ireland has become directly involved in the humanitarian response to the migration and refugee crisis in the Mediterranean and we are rightly proud of the role that the L.E. Eithne and our naval service has played in saving the lives of many thousands of those fleeing North Africa at this time.
This humanitarian and logistical response is an example of the very best of our values as a society. However, the present crisis is about much more than emergency response away from our shores; it also demands a comprehensive response when individuals reach our shores.
I believe we can and we must develop compassionate policies, processes and practices which respond to the experience and life stories of those who seek our protection with empathy and respect. I want to pay special tribute today to all of the agencies and organisations who have taken on the responsibility of supporting and assisting refugees and asylum seekers in our country. State agencies and their staff, and community and voluntary bodies, as well as international agencies such as UNHCR and the Red Cross, have been involved at all levels in supporting and assisting those who have arrived here seeking our protection. As President of Ireland I am glad of this opportunity to thank you on behalf of all of the Irish people for the important and valuable work you have done and for what you continue to do in our name and in solidarity with the new members of our society.
This work is not easy, and the obstacles, which at times can include prejudice, suspicion and indifference are not easily overcome. Unfortunately, Ireland has not always succeeded in meeting the highest standards of reception and support, but I am happy that progress is being made and there is a genuine commitment on behalf of all those involved to improve our laws and practices. The government seems willing to change the current system, better reflecting the demands of the Irish public for a more efficient and sympathetic process. Many of those involved in the work of improving the current system, at the levels of law, policy and advocacy, are represented here today and you are most welcome.
I believe that it is not unrealistic to conceive of a system of protection based on a regime of support rather than one of deterrence, so that newcomers can achieve their potential and make a valuable contribution to their new home society, as all of you who are here today have proven. It is also not unrealistic to conceive of an Ireland where our welcome for those who seek and require our help should be an unqualified source of pride and joy for all our people.
The Garden Parties at Áras an Uachtaráin are principally about celebrating the idea of community and I hope that this event today – which is such an occasion of joy and pride – can be a sign of the welcoming Ireland and the rich and diverse community which I know we all aspire to create. Most of all, let this event also be a sign of our appreciation for the enormous contribution that you our new communities, and especially our refugee communities, have made and continue to make to Ireland.
Now allow me to say that in our own 5,000 year old language which was the language of so many of our migrants and their ancestors:
Caithfidh sochaí chuimsitheach a bheith bunaithe ar phobail scafánta atá fréamhaithe i ngach a bhfuil i gcoitinne acu féin, ach is pobail bhisiúla fhorásacha de thoradh glacadh leis an iomad creideamh, cultúr agus inniúlachtaí difriúla atá acu siúd ar mian leo a bheith rannpháirteach i saol a bpobal féinig. Is le pobail den sórt sin, agus le daoine fearacht sibh féin, gur féidir linn díriú ar shochaí a cheapadh agus a thabhairt ar an saol a bheidh cóir daonlathach go firinneach, arb éard a bheidh inti fíor-Phoblacht.
[An inclusive society must be founded on strong communities that are rooted in all that is shared in common, but which grow and flourish through an acceptance of the many different beliefs, cultures and abilities of those who wish to participate in the life of their community. It is with such communities, and with people like yourselves, that we can aim to imagine and realise a truly just and democratic society, a real Republic.]
Finally, I want to thank those who assisted in the organisation of today’s events, in particular the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Dublin, the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration, the Irish Refugee Council, NASC – the Irish Immigrant Support Centre, and Doras Luimní.
I would like thank all those who have worked so hard on behalf of the Áras to make this a wonderful occasion for you. A big thank you to our MC Ruaidhrí McKiernan and also to Jimmy Goeijenbier, Ruairí and Colm Ó hArgáin, Piper Cathal Ó Crócaigh, Fiona Gryson & Grainne Meyer, Old Hannah, Masamba Samba, Havana Club Trio, and Bagatelle for the magnificent entertainment they have provided this afternoon.
On your behalf and my own, I salute the hard work, unfailing good humour and – not least – culinary skills of the staff here in Áras an Uachtaráin, the OPW, our friends from St. John of Gods, and may I say how grateful I am to Dee Rogers and his team for their technical skills that ensure our sound system works so well.
Sabina and I hope you have a great afternoon. Enjoy the rest of your time here and thank you for coming,
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.