REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR CO-OPERATION IRELAND AT ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR CO-OPERATION IRELAND AT ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN MONDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER, 2002
Is cúis mhór áthais dom fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir chuig Áras an Uachtaráin inniu.
Martin and I are delighted to have this opportunity to welcome you here today to Áras an Uachtaráin. This is a day of celebration and gratitude for the crucial work you do in building links of co-operation and friendship between communities throughout Ireland, North and South. A special ‘Céad Míle Fáilte’ to you all and in particular our guests who have travelled from Northern Ireland.
At a time when so much of our attention is drawn towards the ups and downs of political negotiations, it is easy to forget the parallel and intricate web of daily activities of local groups who are continually and relentlessly building bridges between divided communities in Northern Ireland. Across those bridges fresh, open attitudes travel, old presumptions are left behind, opportunities for friendship flourish and the prospect of a peaceful, contented, respectful future takes hold in hearts and minds, inspiring more and more people to join the journey long begun by Cooperation Ireland. The success of Co-operation Ireland has precisely been its ability to facilitate cross-community and cross-border exchanges of many different shapes and sizes and to give individuals and communities a chance to witness for themselves the huge benefits that derive from living and working together in a cooperative environment rather than one drained by conflict and contempt.
Over the years you have developed a wide range of social, cultural and economic programmes that have helped to foster greater mutual understanding throughout this island, encouraging cross-border contact, fostering new economic opportunities and helping people to re-imagine themselves and their relationships. It has taken real dedication and determination to persevere with your work through intensely difficult periods in our recent history. I am sure there have been days when you wondered about the impact of your work on eroding the endemic and toxic hatred that goes so deep. But your enduring faith in the power of the human person to change and in our ability to create a future to be proud of has kept you from flinching or turning back in the face of the many obstacles in your path and slowly but surely we are watching the dying entrails of a culture of conflict and the seed-bedding of a culture of consensus.
Years of violence and mistrust stymied the development of trade and co-operation between North and South. The border counties on both sides in particular suffered disproportionately – facing an uphill struggle in attracting investment, in creating employment and prosperity for their communities. Co-operation Ireland, as the Intermediary Funding Body for the EU Peace and Reconciliation Programme for Northern Ireland and the Border Region, has worked to build fresh confidence and opportunity and a new mood of dynamism to these marginalized places and people.
In the areas of youth, education, and local communities, the Exchanges Programme, the Civic Link Programme, and the Local Authority Linkages Programme, with the assistance of the Friends of Co-operation Ireland are stitching together a network of shared endeavour between youth organisations, community groups, local authorities and schools. The new energy and the simple friendships generated by this work are hugely important to the work of reconciliation and partnership on which our future rests.
Cooperation Ireland has tapped into and harnessed the huge wealth of talent which exists in both communities and both jurisdictions. In the past we wasted much of that talent but now for the first time we are getting a taste of what life will be like on this island when every scrap of ability and creativity, every bit of potential is put at the service of all the people. When we look back on the time that has passed since the Good Friday Agreement was so greatly endorsed by the people of both parts of this island, we sometimes forget how far we have travelled and how much good has been achieved in those few short years. We deny none of the problems that remain, none of the needless hurts inflicted daily but we must surely be grateful for the many miracles we have each been witness to, the many signs of extraordinary change being wrought by ordinary people. The greatest impulse on this island is an impulse to sustain peace and it lies deep in the heart of by far the greatest number of people. Men and women are today prepared to think and do things they could not have conceived of a few years ago. They are prepared to takes risks for peace, to change for the sake of peace, to begin to trust despite their cynicism and woundedness, to make new friends among those from whom they were once estranged.
Your visit here today will help nurture that spirit of friendly co-operation in which people who look at the world very differently in some important respects, whether in terms of history, politics, faith or ambition also acknowledge that they share in common many values, perspectives and problems and importantly, solutions.
Today is a way of paying tribute to all of your faith in our future, for the hard work and commitment you bring to securing a vibrant and healthy civic life the length and breadth of this island. No community can ever take for granted that it will have good civic leaders, good community builders, people who care enough to do the hard slog that decent, happy lives rest on. We are lucky to have you and grateful for all you have done. I hope today will be a memorable occasion for all of you – a chance to meet others, to exchange experiences and views. Most of all I hope that you will enjoy yourselves and maybe make a new friend or two.
I would like to thank our MC and legend in his own right, Jimmy Magee, Orla Kelly who played the harp so beautifully in the front hall as you arrived, and in this room the wonderfully talented Mamisa Electric String Quartet. My thanks also to John Gould, Civil Defence Officer for his expert assistance.
Go n-éirí go geal libh. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.