REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A GARDEN PARTY FOR MEMBERS OF AOSDÁNA, ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A GARDEN PARTY FOR MEMBERS OF AOSDÁNA, ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN ON THURSDAY, 24 JUNE, 2004
Dia dhíbh a cháirde go léir.
Hello everyone. You are very welcome to Áras an Uachtaráin this afternoon. Martin and I hope you will enjoy your visit and we thank you for coming.
This afternoon is a celebration of your work as individual artists and of your collective power as a body in showcasing to Ireland and to the world the artistic imagination and genius of our people in each generation. It is a small thank-you for the riot of ways in which you enrich and delight us, the ways in which you evoke vicarious pride in Irish culture, the ways in which you stimulate and challenge, lead and compel, reveal and revel. Just as those who have never read Ulysses nonetheless are delighted Joyce was an Irishman, so the many who will never themselves be publicly acclaimed artists, and who may never fully explore your entire canon, still care deeply that you pursue your vocation as artists and that your creativity works as a leaven at the heart of our society. It matters that we have not just an historic reputation for producing talent but that we replenish that cohort of genius in each generation. It matters that this small nation stands tall throughout the world on the shoulders of its writers, poets, painters, dancers, musicians, actors, filmmakers, set designers and all the rest who make up this extraordinary band.
It is through the arts that we share with the world many of the things that make us distinctively and uniquely Irish. It is often only through the arts that we have any significant point of intimate, up front and personal contact with the citizens of the rest of the world just as it is often only through the arts that we meet ourselves and in particular meet those parts of the self only the oil of art can reach.
In a republic which has set its face against a national honours system, Aosdána is itself a rare and uniquely Irish way of recognizing and encouraging artists without in any way compromising their independence and integrity. Your membership is not dependent on political patronage or State approval. You elect your own members, choosing by purely artistic criteria which of your peers you deem worthy of the honour of membership. And membership is a very real honour indeed precisely for that reason. Can there be any more critical audience than your peers, any more difficult audience to impress?
Aosdana is fundamentally about the State, the people, acknowledging the outstanding contribution the arts make to our lives, in Ireland and acknowledging too the difficult road the artist has to travel in pursuit of the levels of excellence which alone bring the accolade of membership of Aosdana. This afternoon is a small way of saluting your achievements, of simply saying thank-you. Enjoy the day and long may you continue to be inspired and fulfilled by your individual vocations as artists.
I would like to thank our MC this afternoon Eugene Downes for the excellent job he is doing as always and the wonderfully talented Mary Kelly, Teadaí, and Patrick Collins for entertaining us so well this afternoon. My thanks also to our friends from Civil Defence and the staff at the Áras for all they have done to make today enjoyable for everyone.
I hope you will take the time to get to know the Áras, to wander through the State Rooms, our visitor centre downstairs and the Hyde Room with its splendid collection of Hughie O’Donoghue paintings.
Go raibh maith agaibh.