Remarks by President McAleese at a Conference on European Perspectives in Irish Studies
Roma Tre University, Italy Friday, 3rd June, 2011
Dia dhibh go léir – tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo libh ar an ócáid speisialta seo.
Signore, signori, stimati ospiti boungiorno.
Let me begin by thanking Rettore Fabiani, Franca Ruggieri, John McCourt and all of you who are involved in the Centre for the kind invitation to be with you during this conference on European Perspectives in Irish Studies. I also wish to thank our Ambassador to Italy,
Pat Hennessy and his wife Pauline, as well as all the team in the Embassy, for the very effective and professional job they do on behalf of Ireland and for the warm welcome they have extended to Martin and I on this and previous visits.
I am delighted to be here and I am deeply honoured to accept from this distinguished university the Medal of Honour which I shall cherish as a testament to the close bonds between our two countries and between our two fascinating cultural traditions, each utterly unique yet with strands that unite us and each an important part of our common European and global cultural patrimony.
It is a special pleasure to know that here at Roma Tre University you have a newly established centre dedicated to research on Irish Studies and I wish every success to all those working, researching and studying at the Centro di Ricerca Interdipartimentale per gli Studi Irlandesi e Scozzesi, known rather alarmingly as CRISIS for short. Ambassador Hennessy reassures me that the acronym is entirely benign.
So we gather in this the 150th anniversary year of Italian unification, knowing that time brings huge changes to our countries and we need scholars to help us analyse and understand, those changes so that we can adapt, prepare and set our compasses anew. I congratulate our Italian friends on this great anniversary and note that, in a decade’s time, Ireland will celebrate its independence from Britain and that, yesterday fortnight, we witnessed wonderful events and images in Ireland that helped to lay to rest some nine hundred years of animosity between Britain and Ireland.
Already this University’s research centre, in the short time it has been in existence, has witnessed the rewriting of certain key aspects of Irish Studies and life teaches us that there will be more to come. We can see just how rich a scholarly harvest is offered in the many fields of Irish Studies by looking at the breadth and variety of the work being presented at this conference alone. I am very moved by the decision to dedicate this learned conference to the memory of the late Dr. Garret FitzGerald. As a committed European, a passionate educator, a wise academic and a proud Irishman, he would indeed approve of this gathering where Irish and European scholars make a critical examination of Ireland, Irish studies and the place of our evolving country in an evolving Europe. He was a happy man, a great enthusiast for life and I like to think that part of his joy in life stemmed from Garret’s restless intellectual curiosity. He was surely destined never to be bored.
This week Rome has drawn to it many European and world leaders who came to join President Napolitano and the Italian people for yesterday’s ceremonies of commemoration. We came to pay tribute to this wonderful country but, more than that, to stand in respectful and friendly solidarity with one another at this time of economic and political turmoil. Just as Italy found its voice in unity, so too we in Ireland believe in the value of the old Irish saying “Ní neart go cur le chéile” – our truest strength reveals itself when we work together.
As scholars of Irish studies, you know better than anyone how precious the themes of cooperation and peace are to Ireland and how much time and lives have been wasted on a culture of conflict where people who were neighbours did not work together but worked against one another. The political landscape of the island has changed dramatically for the better in recent years and the success of this generation in securing peace in Northern Ireland is, without a doubt, our greatest achievement and a source of pride and real hope. Since the Good Friday Agreement was overwhelmingly endorsed by the people of Ireland North and South in 1998, a new culture of consensus has taken root in Ireland and is steadily consolidating. There is now an effective power-sharing government in Northern Ireland working to build a fair and equitable society fit for both traditions. The recent elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly were extraordinary in the fact that there was nothing extraordinary about them. Some people even complained that they were boring. Those of us who remember the days of dreadful and unwelcome drama were grateful for this concrete evidence of the ‘normalisation’ of life for the people of Northern Ireland.
Cross-border cooperation and partnership across the island of Ireland has never been better and is growing exponentially. The once fraught relationship between Ireland and Britain is now warm, supportive and collegial. I was particularly delighted to welcome
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, to Ireland last month. This was the first visit by Queen Elizabeth to Ireland and, indeed, the first visit by a British monarch to our State since Ireland became independent. Such a visit is itself indicative of the massive transformation wrought by the Peace Process and it showcases the strength of the modern day bilateral relationship between Ireland and Britain. We are united with our British partners in our commitment to building on the platform of good neighbourliness that now exists between both islands and which will profoundly shape the future along lines very different from the past.
Any study of Ireland, past or present, would surely include a substantial chapter on our longstanding relationship with Italy. We recall the rich texture of ecclesiastical relations between Ireland and Rome and are proud of the contribution made to Italy’s rich medieval heritage by Irish saints, like Columbanus in Bobbio or Cataldo in Taranto, stories that are a millennium and a half old. Slightly more recently in the 17th century, the great chieftains of the Gaelic world, driven out of their homeland found refuge here in Rome. The Liberator himself, the great international statesman and champion of human rights Daniel O’Connell, died in Italy in 1847 at the height of Ireland’s great Famine which broke his heart. That heart is buried in the Irish College in Rome. I don’t need to remind this audience that one of our greatest writers, James Joyce, produced a significant part of his work in Italy.
Both Ireland and Italy are countries long defined by a history of emigration. Today both countries are able to look more comprehensively at the loss of so many young people and the absorption of so much grief. Today we both have huge scattered global families who live comfortably in other homelands to which they are devoted, while still also devoted to their motherlands. They promote our character and our rich cultures all over the world and we are both blessed to have such dynamic Italian and Irish communities who are our unofficial ambassadors wherever they gather. Our people share a great love of the arts, expressed in very different ways, which make us interesting to one another, as is evident here today in Roma Tre. I am deeply gratified by the passion and commitment shown to Irish studies, to Irish literature and more generally to Irish culture in Italy.
I am also glad that we belong to a generation that is forging a common future through our membership of the European Union, through our very healthy economic ties, through the tourists, students and workers who travel in both directions building bridges of human friendships and cultural compatibility that ensure we stay close to one another and know each other well.
Today, our European Union faces considerable problems but we have a common purpose and by holding to that purpose, while working through our problems together, we will help our Union – still very young in historic terms - to emerge stronger and wiser. We have already travelled an extraordinary journey together and the key lesson learned is that our problems, and in particular our economic challenges, are best tackled through an effective response at European level.
Ireland is currently undergoing a period of significant economic readjustment. We are deeply appreciative of the support of Italy and our other European partners at this time. The new Irish Government has made it clear that its agenda will be dominated by recovery, renewal and restoration and there is good reason to look to the future with optimism. While we are a small nation, we are also a resourceful, innovative and self-sacrificing people. We can draw on phenomenal levels of community solidarity and creativity in a crisis and that is exactly what we are currently doing.
Ireland has many strengths to draw on. Our workforce is the youngest in Europe, with 36% of the population under the age of 25. They are well educated and trained reflecting Irish people’s love affair with education for we know it is transformative of individuals, families, communities and countries. We continue to invest heavily in education, research and innovation knowing these are the key enablers of job creation and maintenance. We subscribe to Erasmus’ proposition that the main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth, and the future strength of Ireland’s economy, culture and community is to be found in its universities and schools.
Our present strength is evident in the fact that more Irish companies are engaging in research and development than ever before. Ireland has trebled economy-wide R&D spend in the last decade and now ranks in the top 20 nations for quality of scientific publications. It is Europe’s No.1 location for Life Science Projects. World business leaders recognise Ireland as a significant location for fresh thinking and a global hub for innovation and information technology. Eight of the top ten pharmaceutical companies and fifteen of the top twenty medical technology companies are located in Ireland.
The free flow of ideas and the cross-fertilisation that comes with innovation are vital to success in the twenty-first century smart economy. We are fortunate in Ireland to have an exceptional level of collaboration between industry, academia, government and the regulatory authorities. The exciting work being done in this collaborative environment was an important factor in the selection of Dublin as the 2012 European City of Science.
And in a neatly balanced counterpoint, March 2011 also saw Dublin designated a UNESCO City of Literature. The award was not only a wonderful affirmation of Dublin’s unique character but also an acknowledgement of the important contribution that Ireland has made, and continues to make, on the literary world stage. As well as the literary heritage we are celebrating today at this conference, Irish music, film and dance also enjoy universal appeal. In good times and in bad, Irish men, women and children invest in a rich civic and cultural life; they find joy in life no matter what and pull together to transcend adversity.
We are grateful for the interest taken in our country by your academy. Your perspectives on Ireland help us to understand ourselves with greater breadth and depth of insight. There is much to be studied – our language, our literature, our unique sporting codes, our complex history, our European engagement from the time of the Irish monks to our place today at the heart of the EU, our Peace Process which has inspired the world and which bears witness to the capacity of the human heart and mind to change for the better. Scholarship has played quite a part in the story of Ireland and now your scholarship will write its own fresh, new chapters. I look forward to them and hope that you enjoy accompanying Ireland on its journey. Thank you for being partners on that adventure. I wish you all a fulfilling and insightful conference and thank you for the studied insights your work continues to bring to a wider international understanding of Ireland and Irish culture.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh.