REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR REPRESENTATIVES OF THE N. IRELAND FARMING COMMUNITY
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION IN ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN FOR REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NORTHERN IRELAND FARMING COMMUNITY
Céad Míle Fáilte romhaibh go léir chuig Áras an Uachtaráin inniu.
Both Martin and myself are delighted to welcome all of you here to Áras an Uachtaráin today, particularly those who have travelled from my home county of Down. We would like to say a very special thank you to all those who organised this day - especially Minister Mary Coughlan, Councillor Burgess, An Bord Bia and officials from the Department of Agriculture and Food.
We have invited you here today as a mark of recognition to the farming community for the vital role you play in maintaining the well-being of our shared island home. Not only do we depend on you for the primary production of food, for its and our food safety and quality but also for preserving the unique fabric of rural communities throughout this island.
Agriculture is a very local and community based enterprise, but it has also become, probably more than any other activity, a global endeavour. Food has been traded across boundaries for hundreds of years but in today’s world the intensity of that trade has made us all virtually daily traders and consumers in the global market place. The threats and challenges we face have a global dimension too as the worries over Avian Bird ’flu demonstrate. Cooperation right along that global chain is essential for all of us and I wish the recently established Expert Group on Avian ’Flu, under the Chairmanship of Professor Michael Monaghan, every possible success. A few years ago, everyone on this island played their part in successfully tackling the Foot and Mouth crisis. That generosity of spirit, that willingness to focus on common problem solving, is a hugely important resource and one which I hope days like this will encourage - for at the end of the day it is human beings who create and sustain the networks of friendship and collegiality that help us to deal effectively with the ever-changing landscape locally, nationally and internationally.
Like so many people on this island I am two generations away from the land - not much land and not very good land - memorably described by my grandfather as having enough land for ten cows and enough water for a hundred and ten. His was a subsistence economy, so basic and poor that when electricity came he refused to let it in the door, allegedly because he believed it would never catch on but more probably because he could not figure out how he could ever pay a regular bill when he had no regular income.
A couple of generations later and his great grandchildren inhabit a world of credit cards, e-mail and internet, in a high-tech Ireland now one of the worlds top three globalised economies, and the farmland around him has given way to new roads and housing estates.
You have all felt the full thrust of all those changes and yet you have kept faith with the land and with this great industry which is a way of life more than a job. You are its champions in a world where young people have so many options and where commitment to this vocation is certainly not the easiest option. The numbers drifting away from full-time farming bear testament to that and yet it is still the backbone of this island, it is still the web of connectedness that holds so many communities together in mutual care and support.
Whatever the future holds we can be fairly sure that in learning from one another, in sharing ideas and concerns, in trying to solve common problems together we can face the future with greater confidence and determination. We wish all of you well for that future.
We hope that today will be a day of happy memories and of the seeding of new networks of friendship and endeavour for the future.
Most of all we hope that you will relax and enjoy yourselves and make new friends.
I would like to thank the musicians from Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann for entertaining us so beautifully this afternoon. I would also like to thank our friends from Civil Defence and the staff here at the Áras who have worked so hard to make today enjoyable for everyone.
Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.