REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A DINNER TO MARK THE IRELAND FUNDS’ JUNE GATHERING
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A DINNER TO MARK THE IRELAND FUNDS’ JUNE GATHERING ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN 20 JUNE 2009
Dia dhíbh a chairde go léir agus fáilte chuig Áras an Uachtaráin anocht.
Good evening everyone and let me extend to you all the traditional welcome of the house and of Ireland - céad míle fáilte, a hundred thousand welcomes. I am delighted to welcome you to Áras an Uachtaráin whether you have come from near or far. You all share one thing in common - you are great friends of Ireland and, on this night, Ireland thanks you for the gift, the miracle of your enduring friendship and the many acts of kindness and generosity through which you have planted seeds of hope and lived to see the harvest of peace.
The commitment and benevolence of the Ireland Funds worldwide are without parallel. Their accomplishments are also without parallel. You have helped turn the tide of history on this island, bringing to an end generations of endemic conflict and under-achievement. Today’s Ireland, though beset like so many other countries with serious economic anxieties, is a place of peace and relative prosperity. To those of you who have been Ireland-watchers over many years, you know how deep, significant and hard-earned these changes are and how very welcome. Sometimes it seemed as if you had more faith in us than we had in ourselves. There is an Irish expression which says, ‘Giorrian beirt bothar’ - two shortens the road - and our faithful friends, the Ireland Funds have certainly helped us shorten the road to progress and to peace. We are lucky that there are so many such friends, among them a few I want to mention in particular: Loretta Brennan Glucksman, whose stewardship of the American Ireland Fund has, I know, been a labour of love - she has laboured and we love her for it; Kingsley Aitkens has done so much both in Ireland and globally as an advocate for Ireland and for philanthropy; Hugo McNeill, Chairman of the Fund here in Ireland has done marvellous work; and it is a very special delight to welcome and thank Dr. Stanley Quek, head of your latest member group – the Ireland Fund of Singapore.
I have just recently returned from the US where I was delighted to spend time in Massachusetts with another great friend of Ireland, Congressman Richie Neal. Indeed, I look forward to welcoming him and a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress here at the end of this month. While I was in Boston we were guests at the house of great stalwarts of the fund, Michele and Howard Kessler who hosted a wonderful lunch for the Ireland Funds. Looking around their elegant home that day I was struck by the spontaneous intimacy of the friendships which the Ireland Funds has created between Ireland and so many parts of the world. Around those tables we shared a commitment to this place, its people, its culture and heritage, its future, its people, including its many children scattered around the globe. There are many sentimental songs about emigration and many carried Ireland in their hearts and infused their children and grandchildren with a love of this place that has a long shelf-life like no other. But you gathered that sentiment like a ripe harvest into a big barn full of good ideas and generosity. With these things you went right to the heart of difficult things, helping divided communities to get to know one another, jump-starting regeneration of areas demoralised by years of failure, challenging old mindsets to see the fresh energies that could be unleashed by change.
You planted seeds in rutted and unpromising ground and you stayed around to mind the green shoots. They are growing more robust by the day and, though the work is in truth only really beginning, you have helped bring about an important and historic end and a fascinating start. This is where it starts to get really interesting for we are in uncharted waters. The people of this island have never before consciously decided to work together. Their will and commitment is regularly tested, not least by the murderous activities of dissident republicans and loyalists in recent times. But in the public response to those outrages we could see the early signs of one voice where once there were two. They stood together, old enemies, new friends, they spoke as one and, though heartbroken by the unnecessary violence, we felt deeply reassured by this new sight of men and women, catholic, protestant, nationalist, unionist standing shoulder to shoulder, standing their common ground, building the common good. If ever a sight vindicates your new mission statement, that was it - “the Global Irish making a difference together”.
The global Irish family and its many friends are a remarkable, powerful, talented, problem-solving centre of gravity in the world. Individually they have done well, collectively they are a powerhouse for good. The Ireland Funds is a showcase of that power. I want to reassure you that,at every level including government we will work with you to realise the potential of that mission statement. But for now we say a hundred thousand thanks for everything and let us just for once return your mighty hospitality and goodness with a night of good craic and camaraderie.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir. Thank you very much.