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REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE MONKSTOWN VILLAGE DAY SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 1998

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE MONKSTOWN VILLAGE DAY SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 1998

I am very happy to join with the people of Monkstown for the culmination of Monkstown 1200 – a celebration and commemoration of the events of 1200 years ago when a group of monks came from Inis Patrick, near Skerries, to seek a new and peaceful place here in Monkstown.

We know that that time in Ireland was a turbulent time in our history – with the period 795 to 837 being one of isolated Viking raids on the Irish coast – with many monasteries being sacked by the invaders. Curiously, it was a time a bit like the present in terms of weather, because there are several accounts of unusually bad weather – like the great storm of 2 August in 783, when Clonbroney monastery was destroyed by wind – or the storm in 785 which flooded Dairinis, near Youghal – or the thunderstorm of 29 September 799 which is reputed to have caused great panic in Ireland. Other events of note in that period include the killing of a man in a doorway of the stone oratory at Armagh in a disturbance – notable because it was in fact the first reference to a church of stone in the annals. The recorded history of that period – such as it is – is a catalogue of events that centred on the plight of religious communities and personalities – such as the death of St. Máel Ruain of Tallaght in 792 – or the death in 793 of Dub dá Leithe I, the Abbot of Armagh. One can only imagine the type of Ireland that existed at the beginning of that succession of invasions that were to lead ultimately - six hundred years later - to the decline of the old Gaelic order – and the unique type of civilisation that it had involved.

Today, of course, if the Monks wanted to make a quick escape from Skerries to Monkstown they could do it in a fraction of the time using the train and DART services. The world today is a much smaller place with modern transportation and communications facilities making it far easier for people to move around the world. As a consequence of the process of globalisation that the tremendous advances have facilitated, there has been a danger that identities would be lost - and heritages subsumed into a new universal personality – a hybrid of races and cultures that leads to blandness and uniformity.

It is because of that tendency that events like this are so important – where people are given an opportunity to focus on the origins of their place – and to get an appreciation for why it came about at all. I have no doubt that when the monks arrived from Inis Patrick all those centuries ago that it was quite an ordeal. When you consider that it was only three years after the first Viking raids on the East coast and that they were to continue for another 40 years – you can imagine how imperative it was for those early refugees to find a secure place in which to settle.

Over the centuries that followed, Monkstown has seen many changes as the ebb and flow of history has visited many incidents and episodes that have left their mark on the area today. As part of the greater Dublin area, it is important that a place such as this should celebrate its identity and that the people who are fortunate to live here have an appreciation of the significance of its history.

In the many events that you have staged over this period of celebration, you have been exploring the modern connections with the past. The re-creation of that first journey of Monks – with their modern equivalents who arrived earlier at the Old Quay at Dun Laoghaire - and the ecumenical service which brought the community together to recognise their common Christian origins - are an ideal culmination to the events. Monkstown is a place with deep roots – with a long and rich history of religious presence – and a place of which everybody in the community can be justly proud to be a part. I have enjoyed being with you this afternoon to share in your celebration – and I want to wish you continued prosperity as a community with its own unique identity and spirit - for many millennia to come.

ENDS