Address by the President OF IRELAND, MARY Mcaleese, at the Catholic University of Lublin, POLAND
Address by the President OF IRELAND, MARY Mcaleese, at the Catholic University of Lublin, POLAND, WEDNESDAY, 4 June, 2003
Jego Magnificencja.
Go raibh maith agat as ucht an fáilte croíúil sin.
“Dziękuję za miłe słowa powitania”
(Thank you for your kind words of welcome)
Your Grace (Józef Życiński, Archbishop of Lublin is the “Great Chancellor” of KUL)
Your Magnificence
Vice Rectors
Governor (The Voivod)
Marshall (The Marszałekof the Sejmik or regional parliament)
Lord Mayor (The President of Lublin)
Szanowni Goscie (Distinguished Guests)
It is both a pleasure and an honour to end my short visit to Poland with a visit the beautiful city of Lublin, which bears such special witness to the rich, complex, and at times tragic, history of Poland. That history rewards even a little study. There are those like me who know something of Poland’s contemporary 20th century history but not enough about a remarkable less known past. This past has much to teach and inspire the citizens of today’s Europe.
Among the things that have struck me in particular about Poland’s history are:
- the visionary and prophetic qualities of tolerance and diversity which characterised the Polish commonwealth in the period before the partitions;
- the sign of contradiction marking the democratically inclined old Polish – Lithuanian Republic, in contrast to the increasingly absolutist nature of many other European states of the time;
- the ethnic diversity of the Republic with its culture of respect for difference.
Poland’s record of religious tolerance, seen against the background of the wars of religion in other parts of Europe, is deeply impressive and of course these qualities are reflected in the history of Lublin. As readers throughout the world know from the novels of Isaac Bashevis Singer, most notably The Magician of Lublin, this corner of Poland was for a number of centuries the home of a vibrant, dynamic Jewish community. That chapter tragically came to an end in the 1940s during a period of unparalleled suffering which I will be drawn back to when I visit the camp at Majdanek later this afternoon. Not only is it a sombre reminder of that tragic period but a humbling warning about the vulnerability of our very humanity.
It was the awesome barbarism of that period which gave rise to a new vision for Europe and led to the creation of the then European Economic Community, in the 1950s. Old, bitter enemies turned their back on conflict and pledged themselves to a new future based on peaceful partnership and cooperation. Those humanly decent values which are the heart’s core of what is now the European Union, find a strong echo in Polish history and remind us of the deeply European nature of Poland’s identity.
Next weekend, the Polish people will vote on whether, or not, they wish to become members of the European Union. Clearly it would not be appropriate for me, as an outsider, to advise on what decision you should make. I can however reflect a little on Ireland’s thirty-year experience of EU membership.
Ireland and Poland share a deep attachment to our hard won national independence. Like Poland we lost our independence to a stronger neighbour and only partially recovered it, with difficulty, early in the twentieth century. At the time of accession to the then EEC, our economy was comparatively underdeveloped and we were significantly behind the average GDP per capita figure for Western Europe. We also resembled Poland in the importance of agriculture in our national economy and the percentage of our population that made its living from farming.
Prior to joining there was a wide-ranging national debate and a referendum in which over eighty per cent of voters supported membership. Some sectors remained sceptical. They were worried that membership would be economically and culturally detrimental and would dilute our hard won independence. Thirty years later, most Irish observers would agree that those fears have not been realised. While a small number remain unreconciled, the majority of those who had hesitations regarding EEC membership all those years ago would now be in favour. This is most clearly so in the case of the trade union movement, which is now a firm supporter of Irish EU membership.
Membership of itself does not guarantee economic progress but it has been the Irish experience that it provides circumstances and opportunities in which progress becomes possible. When we first joined the Union, Irish GDP per capita was 65% of the EU average. Today it is 130%. Back then, one million people were in employment, today that figure is 1.7 million. In the year before joining the total value of foreign direct investment in Ireland was 16 million Euro. The figure for the year 2000 stood at some 22.5 billion Euro.
Although there have been disappointments and difficulties along the way, the 1990s proved to be a period of strong, indeed spectacular, growth in the Irish economy. Many factors contributed to that growth not least the prudent economic policies pursued by successive Irish governments. But equally important was the supportive framework and context provided by the EU.
It is not necessary to remind an audience in the Catholic University of Lublin that economic development is not a goal in itself. It is, rather, an instrument which serves human ends and is to be judged by its impact on the community in which it takes place. Ireland has a good story to tell in that regard. For the first time in one hundred and fifty years we have reversed the cycle of emigration which characterised Irish life since the Great Famine in the mid-ninetieth century. We achieved close to full employment. We also had the means to devise programmes to tackle persistent pockets of poverty and disadvantage in our society. Our new found self esteem and self-confidence helped us to develop much friendlier relationships with the British Government and to undertake the Peace Process in Northern Ireland.
But Ireland is still of course unfinished business and there are still many challenges facing us if we are to sustain the gains of the past decade, if we are to continue on the journey towards full social inclusion and to complete the road to peace. So while there is certainly no room for complacency there should at least be room for grateful acknowledgment that there have been very real and significant gains which have visibly enhanced the quality of life and expanded opportunity in Ireland.
Some gains are more easily measured than others. Ireland, like Poland, has a strong focus on national identity and cultural heritage and there were worries at the time of accession that membership of the Union could diminish or indeed overwhelm these very things that marked us out as distinctively Irish. Most Irish commentators would be of the view today that EU membership has neither diluted our national identity nor our culture. Indeed, if anything, the reverse has been the case. Although we are a small peripheral country, membership gave us a large voice on the European stage. Our EU neighbours gave us a stage on which to showcase what it is to be Irish. The process of explaining and describing ourselves within Europe has made us realise the critical importance of our identity and heritage.
One important indication of our sense of a continuing local identity is the popularity of the Irish language. Before its disastrous decline in the nineteenth century, the language was the medium of Irish literature and thought, and could indeed be described as the core element in our civilisation. Although the number of native speakers has dwindled, there is a substantial body of opinion in Ireland which is determined that it will always be a strong part of contemporary Irish life. Recent years have seen the creation of an Irish language TV channel, with soap operas in Irish and the growth, especially in urban areas of Irish medium schools – all very reassuring developments.
And of course we are very proud of the role played by Lublin and this distinguished University in promoting Irish studies and especially our native tongue. Students can study Celtic philology, including the Irish language, in this very university and I have been told by Irish people resident in Poland that it is a startling experience to be addressed by Polish friends in Lublin in perfect Irish. For that we can thank Aidan Doyle and the Celtic Department and I know that the Irish Government is happy to support the work of the Department under the guidance of Dr Eugeniusz Cyran and his Polish and Irish colleagues. Hopefully we will all live to see a reciprocal growth in Polish studies in Irish Universities.
We are certainly becoming more curious about each other and more connected to one another through the growing trade and economic links between us. Although history conspired to keep us apart for too long, we should not overlook deeper historical and cultural similarities which make us so compatible and such comfortable friends.
The Irish classic The Farm by Lough Gur contains a fascinating account of how Bessie O’Brien, a prosperous farmer’s daughter from Bruff, County Limerick, found herself working as a governess with a Polish family in early twentieth century Warsaw. Bessie was immediately at home in her new setting, her Irish patriotism blending easily into Polish patriotism. In one of her first letters home Bessie provided a richly detailed description of her new Polish family. She wrote of her hostess Pani Swinarski, “I seldom felt so attracted towards anyone; she is intelligent, well- informed and noble-hearted, above all so patriotic; you cannot imagine the extent to which she carries the love of her country, and so we are well met. She cries sometimes in speaking of the wrongs they all suffer; we compare our stories and what a resemblance we find between the two nations!” Bessie concluded that these resemblances must be due to the shared experience of loss of national independence for, as she put it, how otherwise “could there be such a striking resemblance between the two nations, so far apart, having no communication and of different race?”
We are a privileged generation to have the freedom and the opportunity to make choices our fathers and mothers could only dream of. That we have these chances is thanks to those who kept dreams alive during much harder times. The Catholic University of Lublin is one such champion. As the one independent university during the period of communist rule, it did much to keep alive the spirit of independent enquiry and the values of civil society. Here was a place of refuge for the Polish intelligentsia and a centre of gravity which helped guide Poland’s peaceful transition from a one party state to a functioning democracy - one of the most inspiring events in late twentieth century Europe. The nature of that transition, with its reliance on dialogue rather than violence, owed much to the training given in the Catholic University to generations of young Poles.
Now a new generation is being asked to decide Poland’s future. I wish you well in that historic choice and whatever it’s outcome I look forward to a Europe of good neighbours each of whose citizens knows the joy of living in peace with dignity, respect and opportunity. Those are values and ambitions Ireland and Poland already share. May we both continue to champion them and to be friendly cousins to one another as children of this great European continent.
Go raibh maith agaibh go léir
“Dziękuję bardzo”
(Thank you very much).