BRIEF REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE PRESENTATION OF THE MEDAL OF HONOUR OF THE CITY
BRIEF REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE PRESENTATION OF THE MEDAL OF HONOUR OF THE CITY OF HELSINKI AT CITY HALL, HELSINKI
Madam President, Mr Arajarvi, Mr Chairman, Lord Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I would like to thank you, Mr Chairman, for your hospitality and your kind words. I am delighted and privileged to receive the Medal of Honour of the City of Helsinki, as a further sign of the great esteem and friendship that exists between our two peoples.
Although this is my first visit to Helsinki, I think I have come at a particularly good time. The Millennium Year brought a unique, historic focus and a wonderful set of new memories to this city as you celebrated your 450th anniversary and the proclamation of Helsinki as one of the Cultural Capitals of Europe. I remember the buzz of pride and excitement when my own capital city, Dublin, had a similar honour back in 1991. It was a time to bring to the forefront of memory all the past achievements, all the trials and tribulations which the people of the city transcended together and to mark the debt owed to each generation with respect and gratitude. It was a time to look to the future with great reassurance and excitement. That energy, confidence and fresh imagination released by your special year makes Helsinki an exhilarating place to visit. In my short time in your beautiful city, I can already get some idea of the wonderful work you have done to foster an energising spirit of cultural vibrancy.
The small settlement which was chosen as the capital of Finland almost 200 years ago, has blossomed into the jewel predicted back in 1831 when the architectural genius Engel wrote: “You can’t imagine how beautiful Helsinki will be, and how beautiful it is now”. That beauty today owes much to Engel’s own masterpieces, and to the work of later generations of architects including Saarinen and Alvar Aalto.
But I am sure too that considerable credit is also due to the careful stewardship of successive City Councils, including this one. You have a formidable task, one familiar to urban councils all over Europe, to preserve the city’s historical charm and at the same time plan and provide an efficient modern capital city. With Helsinki and its environs now among the fastest growing areas in Europe, your work and that of neighbouring local authorities gets more complex, more demanding.
We in Dublin have little to learn about the planning headaches caused by rapid population growth, but I am sure that our officials have much to share with each other as they try to find balanced, workable solutions for the future.
In fact our two countries are particularly well placed to share their own special reservoir of insight and experience drawn from the very different perspectives conferred upon us by history and geography.
We in Ireland see ourselves as a mid-point between the United States and the rest of Europe, bound by both ancient and modern links to each, we sit comfortably as a bridge between the two great continents and peoples. Helsinki, too, is a bridge, this time between Eastern and Western Europe. Your extensive familiarity with that interface helps us to better comprehend it and indeed you have used that position well in the past, not least in providing the setting for the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe which was so instrumental in shaping European political development in the last quarter century. As Europe reshapes its future there is no doubt but that we will look spontaneously to Helsinki for insight and guidance into the dynamics of European East West relations in the 21st century.
May your lovely city continue to flourish under your care and may I ask you to raise your glasses as I propose a toast to the City and people of Helsinki.