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ADDRESS BY THE President OF IRELAND, MARY McAleese, AT THE Irish Business Awards Dinner

ADDRESS BY THE President OF IRELAND, MARY McAleese, AT THE Irish Business Awards Dinner, Lansdowne Club, Sydney, ON WEDNESDAY, 2

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to be in Sydney - the foremost City of Australia - and to be with the members of the famous Lansdowne Club - its foremost Irish Business Association. (I do, of course, warmly congratulate you on your choice of President - I am told that more and more people from Belfast are becoming Presidents these days. Your President was also a past pupil of my husband’s old school. The Barrack St. boy I married got to marry a President – next best thing to being one!) It is a particular pleasure to join you on this special evening when you celebrate achievement and recognise success. I am especially grateful that, a little later, I will have the honour of presenting the first ever Irish Business Awards to those, your special committee selected, for having made an outstanding contribution to the Irish Australian Business relationship.

Indeed, at the outset, I want to congratulate you on the great care and thoughtfulness that has been invested in the selection process. You invited a team of eminent and distinguished personalities - all of whom have an exceptional knowledge of contemporary Irish society - and you asked them to meet under the leadership of a person, known and respected, throughout Ireland. Sir Ninian Stephen has been at the forefront of many major international negotiations and his name is associated with the cause of justice and human rights as well as with the search for peace and reconciliation. The skill and resourcefulness he devoted to Ireland in the early years of this decade is cherished and honoured by all people of goodwill and I am pleased to have this opportunity to acknowledge such an eminent Australian.

Ladies and Gentlemen.

The achievements and achievers you recognise here this evening are part of an ongoing success story, which not only marks the business relationship between Ireland and Australia but also says something profound about the dynamic progress of both our economies. It also says much about the many talented people, who take risks, are inventive, have the courage to achieve, have confidence in their own abilities and in the abilities of others and are committed to succeed. They are the people who make a difference and who have ensured that the Irish business relationship with Australia has expanded exponentially in recent years, and that Australia is now our sixth most important export market in the world outside the European Union.

They are the people who have promoted our investment links so that today Australian companies in Ireland employ over 1,400 people in the manufacturing and financial services sectors, and make such a strong contribution to the Irish economy. They are the people who have also promoted Irish investment in Australia and I was pleased to note how many of our larger Irish companies are here, including Fitzwilton, Waterford-Wedgwood and the Bank of Ireland. Together with Independent Newspapers - through APN and Buspak - the Coolmore Stud - through Arrowfield - the CBT Group - through Applied Learning Ltd - and the renounced agri-specialists, Masstock, are all contributing to the dynamic Australian economy.

Most recently, the Kerry Group, one of Ireland's major food companies, which has already built up its position in European and American markets, has further expanded its base and established Kerry Ingredients in Australia. Having acquired the food ingredients division of Burns Philp, the Group has embarked on an ambitious programme to work in partnership with Australian companies and to use its Australian base as the best route to the vast markets of the Asia Pacific region.

New opportunities for cooperations in business are constantly being explored. I am particularly proud to note the presence here in Sydney now of representatives of the Irish State Industry and Export Development Agency, Enterprise Ireland, who are here as co-sponsors with the Australian Information Industries Association, of a showcase event at Sydney Town Hall which aims to forge partnerships between Irish and Australian companies in the fields of high tech, multi-media and software development sectors.

All of these companies and ventures are success stories in their own right but they are also part of a broader Irish success story. Almost within a single generation, Ireland has moved from being a relatively insular society with a protected economy to becoming, on a per capita basis, the third largest exporter in the world, after Singapore and Belgium. It is not so long ago that our export earnings came predominantly from farm commodities, with little added value, which were sold almost entirely to the neighbouring British market. However the value of our exports in the first two weeks of this year far exceeded the total value of our exports for the entire twelve months of 1973 - the year we joined the European Economic Community.

Today Ireland has one of the fastest growing economies in the developed world. This year our gross national product will increase by 8.7%, employment will grow by some 50,000 new jobs. An accumulated growth rate of some 40% over the last 5 years and the reduction in unemployment by some 50% in the course of the last decade have given us a new confidence in ourselves and sense of pride in our achievements as a nation. That confidence has also been reflected in our cultural and artistic life, in the vitality and spirit of a new generation of Irish musicians and dancers, poets and play writers, actors and film producers who have made an enormous impact on the world stage.

A nation once defeated and depressed by the emigration of its people now knows the joy of net inward migration. We have beaten the thing every mother and father dreaded. We have a future now for our children - at home. Now if they leave it is because of real choice rather than force of circumstance.

Our partnership with our European neighbours in building together the most successful enterprise in the history of international relationships has perhaps been the decisive factor which has impacted our virtually every aspect of Irish life. Our membership of the European Union is about much more than economic harmonisation and financial transfers, budgetary discipline and product regulations, important as these are. It is about peace and security, stability and confidence, a common understanding, a clear vision for the future. It is about legislation on equality, the position of women in society, environmental protection, health and safety, social policy and educational standards. It is about being full partners in a noble adventure of shared European citizenship inspired by the horror of a grim century of conflict.

This year - as we celebrate 25 years of membership in this great European adventure - the European ideal continues to confront us all with the central challenges of the future by insisting on enterprise, by combining effort and resources, by building together in a common endeavour to ensure progress, prosperity and peace. For what the Europeans have succeeded in doing, first in the European Community and now in the European Union, is to create a system which combines respect for different national traditions with the dynamism essential for common action. This unique blend goes well beyond the normal arrangements for inter-governmental co-operation. It is not simply a rule-based framework for integration in which objectives are set and decisions are made. It is much more - through its democratic foundations and its transparent accountability to its citizens it provides that their ambitions are heard and realised, by a set of European institutions - including a directly elected Parliament - that all who deliberate together can contribute from our own unique perspective to the achievement of progress and prosperity for all our people.

Europe is not a monolith nor is it a melting pot in which the great variety of cultural richness which spans the continent are destined to be submerged. On the contrary the European Union is destined to be a place where variety is strength and not encumbrance and where differences are not denied but embraced and accommodated. It is a place which recognises that human nature is complex and that human genius is a remarkable diversity. Our Irish identity has never been more in focus, more sharp, more confident than it is today. Europe has been an important showcase for that identity – a place where we feel respected and valued and encouraged to be Irish.

That European ideal and experience was also a source of inspiration to those remarkable women and men who gave of their own wisdom and willingness to accommodate and to successfully negotiate the Good Friday Agreement. They gave us a comprehensive Agreement which is both fair and balanced. They gave us the means and the direction to build a society based on understanding, equality and opportunity. And let me assure you tonight that their courageous effort and the determination of the people in both parts of Ireland who endorsed and embraced their success will not be defeated by those whose only ambition is to live in the past, whose only message is division and destruction, and whose only promise is anger and anguish.

The people of both parts of Ireland want a new partnership built on peace and prosperity, they want accommodation and acceptance, they want friendship with our neighbours and solidarity in looking with compassion and conviction to the third millennium. In this context, may I say that the support and understanding of the Irish family around the world, and especially in Australia, for our peace process is deeply appreciated. We also value your practical support: I referred earlier to the input of Sir Ninian Stephen; I would also like to mention Australia’s contribution to the International Fund for Ireland which advances practical co-operation and encourages reconciliation throughout Ireland. Thank you for your support and help during dark days. You helped us to keep hoping and keep working to build consensus, to rid ourselves of contempt and conflict.

All of these good things that we wish for ourselves we also wish for the Irish family across the world. You are an essential part of our identity and you remain a precious reminder of the many great influences that constitute our heritage and our personality as a people. On this night when we recognise achievement and success we can celebrate so much that is good and together look with confidence to the future.

Thank you.