Remarks at a Reception for Members of the Irish Community in Lebanon
Phoenicia Hotel, Beirut, 16th October 2011
Distinguished members of the Irish Community in Lebanon, a chairde Gael, conas atá sibh inniu? Go maith nó go hiontach?
It is such a great pleasure for Martin and me to have this opportunity to meet Ireland’s Lebanese family once again. Last time I was here it was in 1997 a short time after
I became President when my first official visit abroad was to Lebanon. Now I am back a short time before retiring from office on my last official visit abroad. I am very grateful to our hardworking Ambassador to Lebanon, Isolde Moylan for her help and support on this visit and to Mr. Alan Shatter, Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence who is accompanying me, making his first visit to Lebanon.
In 1997 it was hard to stop from crying as the car travelled into Beirut from the airport so pervasive were the signs of conflict and destruction. It was a very different feeling this time - to see Beirut restored and its courageous people building a new future with such courage and determination. President Sleiman and Prime Minister Mikati have been incredibly welcoming and their fondness for the Irish, their sense of indebtedness to our Defence Forces, government and people was palpable in the conversations we enjoyed with them. They appreciate our fidelity to peace in this region and the investment we have made here, the sacrifices we have made here, over many, many years of service with UNIFIL.
It was to Irish Batt in Tibnin that I came especially to say thank you for over 23 years of outstanding ambassadorship for the United Nations, for Ireland, for peace and for human decency. I came to honour the 47 Irish peacekeepers who lost their lives so that the people of Lebanon might enjoy theirs in peace. I came to assure our peacekeepers of the pride they evoke in Ireland and in Irish people the world over - theirs is a unique and enduring legacy of good, a unique contribution to global peace from a studiedly militarily neutral little country which has distilled its own deep experience of oppression and violence into a passion for peace that is unquenchable.
The Camp Shamrock I visited yesterday is a lot different to look at from the Camp Shamrock of fourteen years ago. But its heart is the same for the people are just as able and extraordinary as their predecessors. Lt Col. Frank Bolger didn’t have the tough task that fell to Col. Colm Doyle back in 1997 of finding a double bed and squeezing it into a single sized room to accommodate my husband and me, but still any visit from the Commander in Chief creates a lot of extra work and I thank Frank and all those who worked with him to prepare a memorable welcome.
Now I have this chance to meet with the Irish community here. Each of you has a great story to tell about what brought you here or kept you here, romance, marriage, history, adventure, work, service, faith, humanitarian causes, business - the list is long but each one of you forms a vital human link between two countries and cultures - Ireland and Lebanon - you open up Ireland to the Lebanese and Lebanon to the Irish and all of you. Some of you are here a long time like the distinguished Sursock-Cochrane family or Sister Mary, others are newly arrived. I thank each one of you for all you do to build and strengthen the ties between our two countries and peoples, ties which Irish Batt have made such a huge contribution to and continue to build each day with our new deployment.
The transformation that has taken place here since I first came teaches us that where there is courage and fortitude life can be made to change for the better. It’s a story that has particular resonance in Ireland today, facing as we are a period of very hard economic retrenchment. People wonder will things get better and here in Lebanon we see pointers to an answer for this is a country on the move abounding in evidence of a dynamic economic and social renaissance. The Lebanese people are on the same journey that we in Ireland are on - a journey to a time of both peace and prosperity. It has been for both of us an uneven and at times capricious journey but in Ireland we have managed to secure a robust peace after generations of failure and despite the fragile global economic environment, we are now making consistent progress towards renewed and sustainable economic growth. We take heart from each other and we look forward to renewing in another generation the close ties and fond friendship between Lebanon and Ireland. I hope that each one of you will continue to serve as a bridge of friendship and co-operation between our countries; and that you and your families will continue to flourish and prosper, making both Ireland and Lebanon proud.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.