Address to the Irish Community Reception
Villa Spada, Rome, 6th February 2013
Tá riméad agus áthas ar mo chroí mar Uachtarán na hÉireann, ar mo chéad chuairt oifigiúil ar an Iodáil, an deis seo a bheith agam bualadh le Gaeil na cathrach stairiúla seo. Leis na cianta cairbreacha, mheall an Róimh pobal suimiúil agus éagsúil Gaelach chuici féin, agus mothaím cheana féin ar an oíche seo go bhfuil an traidisiún sin beo beathaíoch i gcónaí.
Signori e Signore. Benvenuto qui stasera. Sono lieto di essere qui con voi.
Thank you very much, Ambassador Hennessy, for your kind introduction.
It is a very great pleasure for Sabina and me to be here with you tonight on my first official visit to Italy. I am delighted to be able to address the Irish community and the friends of Ireland who live in this wonderful country.
This evening is an enjoyable and happy occasion for all of us. It gives us an opportunity to reflect on Ireland’s relationship with Italy, on the historic connections which formed and shaped our relationship and perhaps, even more importantly, on how we can move ahead together as partners and as friends.
It is also an opportunity to acknowledge and say thank you to the representatives of Irish community living in Italy who do so much to help each other, to support their homeland of birth in any way they can and who are such good reputational ambassadors for Ireland. As well as the many Irish religious who live and work in Rome, I know that the Irish Club and the GAA are very active in nurturing a sense of solidarity and community among their fellow nationals. The Irish Business Network, which is based in Milan, also does great work in maintaining mutually supportive connectivity among Irish men and women who have made Italy their home.
History – Culture
There is a deep tradition of friendship between the Irish and Italian people, based in large part on strong, centuries-old social and cultural affinities. The ancient Romans called our island, Hibernia, one translation of which, clearly mistaken, could be “the land of eternal winter”. This would probably explain why they never extended the conquest to our shores. However, from the time that the Romans were in Britain, there was already contact between our cultures. Indeed our national patron, Saint Patrick, would have been considered a Roman by the social standards of the time.
This cultural influence of the Roman Empire was later to extend from Ireland, as our monasteries kept safe the ancient texts of antiquity, and Irish missionaries went forth some centuries later to sustain Christianity and education in the Europe of the dark ages. During this period St. Columbanus, that great European visionary whose legacy and reputation stretch far beyond Irish shores, founded the famous monastery at Bobbio. St Columbanus indeed is remembered and celebrated to this day for his work in the towns and villages of the adjacent region.
We recall also the refuge which Rome offered to the great Irish chieftains O’Neill and O’Donnell when they arrived here as exiles in the early seventeenth century. I look forward during my stay to visiting their burial place nearby at San Pietro in Montorio. It is instructive to recall that only a few short years later men such as Luke Wadding, founder of not one but two Irish religious houses, St Isidore’s and the Irish College, were making their presence felt in this city. Indeed, moving down the centuries, I look forward at the Irish College to seeing the monument of the great Irish humanitarian and liberator, Daniel O’Connell, who died en route to Rome and willed his heart to this great city.
From the nineteenth century onwards, Ireland and Italy also shared a common experience of mass emigration with our people forging many bonds as emigrants in the New World. From these difficult beginnings grew communities whose achievements in their adopted lands have been, for both our countries, a source of pride and encouragement.
Earlier today I had the opportunity to address a conference on James Joyce at Roma Tre University. It was truly inspiring to have the opportunity to contribute to a conversation on one of our greatest writers in this country, with which he had such a strong affinity. Indeed, it is uplifting to see the great appetite for Irish culture here in Italy and to know that the resources of creativity, for which Ireland is so well known, continues to be enjoyed and appreciated here in Italy. Not only did an Irish practice win a prestigious prize at last year’s Architectural Biennale in Venice, but across Italy there is a thriving and diverse cultural programme ranging from a very successful annual “Film Festa”, with the next in the series to take place on St. Patrick’s Day, to Irish poetry and music events, to a two day festival on Flann O’Brien to be held here in Rome next June.
However, this longstanding positive relationship between our two countries extends well beyond the boundaries of history and culture. In the world of soccer, we loaned Italy Liam Brady and, briefly, Robbie Keane. Of course in more recent times Italy has provided us with the services of Mr. Trappatoni. The Ireland-Italy encounter during the last European Championships was not for us a moment to cherish. However, we still aspire to meet Italy again in Brazil in 2014, although preferably not in the same group.
Ireland and Italy will, of course, meet on the rugby field in the near future. As the game will take place here in Rome very close to St. Patrick’s Day, I hope that Italian courtesy will insist on a happy outcome for the visitors.
EU Presidency
It might be best to focus on a field on which Ireland and Italy are on the same side. We are both firm partners in Europe and Ireland currently holds the rotating Presidency of the European Union. This is Ireland’s 7th EU Presidency, during which the challenges we face domestically are closely aligned with those facing Europe as a whole. It is generally recognized across the European Union that there is no greater challenge than generating employment for our people. Youth unemployment, in particular, has reached alarming levels in certain EU Member States and it is imperative that it be effectively addressed.
As the theme of our Presidency, Ireland has identified three urgent and compelling priorities – stability, jobs and growth. These are the issues that matter to our people: delivering on them will, we believe, do more than anything else to restore confidence in the values of the European idea that have brought us decades of unprecedented peace, stability and prosperity. It is encouraging to know that some important steps have been, and continue to be, taken in all our countries. However, the scale of the problem across the Union is significant and there is much still to do if all our citizens are to be enabled to fully participate in the economy and reach their full potential in society.
As Presidency, Ireland will seek to ensure that these issues remain at the forefront of the European agenda, and that the Union focuses on the need to promote economic recovery across Europe. While we can draw encouragement from the steps that have been taken thus far to stabilise the EU economy and currency zone, the task of rebuilding our economies and renewing our societies remains challenging. This challenge must be tackled in a spirit of solidarity and cohesion across the Member States with the necessary action grounded in the founding Treaties.
General Economic Performance
There is no denying that Ireland has faced challenging times over recent years. The difficult decisions that were taken have involved pain and sacrifice for many families and individuals. However, we are now beginning to see some signs that we are on the path to economic recovery, albeit that the journey will be a gradual one. The Irish economy recorded positive growth last year, an impressive performance given the challenges currently facing the wider European and global economy. Ireland has taken firm control of its public finances and this phased, steady progress is starting to generate results with new investments by Irish and foreign companies generating new jobs for our people.
It has not been easy to regain our competitiveness and to put our public finances back on the right track. The economic and social costs being endured by our people have been severe and they have rightly insisted that these be borne in a fair and equitable manner. The challenges are by no means over. However, lessons from past mistakes have been learned and we are now on the road to recovery and renewal.
This positive news has been recognised internationally and our task must be to build on it so that the people of Ireland experience the tangible benefits in terms of increased employment and a respite from unrelenting austerity. In facing up to these economic and social challenges, we in Ireland, along with our Diaspora, will always draw strength from our sense of community and social solidarity. Our greatest asset was, and always will be, the capacity and creativity of our people, both at home and abroad.
That is why I greatly welcome the opportunity to join you this evening. You are the people who have helped to shape Ireland’s international reputation. Wherever I travel, I am always deeply impressed by what Irish people have achieved and by how committed they are to create a positive image of Ireland. Successive generations of Irish people have won for themselves, and for our country, enormous admiration and respect for their talent, hard work and resilience – whether as missionaries, aid workers, peace-keepers, national and international civil servants, business people, artists, homemakers and in so many other areas. The Irish community around the world, our Diaspora, is one of our strongest assets and you continue to make us proud.
The Gathering
2013 is a particularly exciting year; a year when we will see our Government’s biggest ever tourism initiative, the Gathering, come to fruition. We in Ireland have been a diasporic people for a great part of our history. The Gathering reaches out to our many friends, family and connections overseas, inviting them to join us in a year-long celebration of all that is great about our country. As part of that outreach, you might wish to consider visiting Ireland this year to enjoy a vibrant programme of events and festivals that will celebrate the best of Irish culture, arts, science, creativity, music, heritage and people.
I am also very conscious that there are many throughout the world for whom returning to Ireland next year, or perhaps any year in the foreseeable future, is but a dream, due maybe to financial considerations or other circumstances. I hope that they too will have opportunities to celebrate their Irishness, which is valuable to my Presidency, in the year ahead wherever in the world they may be, including here in Italy.
Conclusion
I thank you for coming here this evening. During the short time I have been in Rome I have sensed the palpable warmth that characterises the Irish–Italian relationship. I am confident that it will continue to strengthen to the benefit of both our countries and peoples.
Grazie mille.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh.