REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION IN ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN, WEDNESDAY, 10 APRIL, 2002
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION IN ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN, WEDNESDAY, 10 APRIL, 2002
Dia dhíobh a cháirde. Is sona liom bheith i bhur measc ar an ócáid fíor-thábhachtach seo. Fearaim fíor-chaoin fáilte roimh na pearsana spóirt atá i láthair anseo, agus rompu siúd uile atá bainteach le cúrsaí spóirt.
Martin and I are delighted to welcome each one of you to Áras an Uachtaráin today and to have this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you for your contribution to Ireland’s sporting heritage. We are honoured and delighted to be surrounded by some of the great legends of Irish sport, household names whose achievements have brought so much pleasure and pride to Irish people.
In this room are gathered men and women representing the full spectrum of sport - sport that plays such a huge part in Irish life, our culture and in our collective imaginations. We love it, some would say we live for it. It is hugely important to us. The story is sometimes told about the foreigner attending his first All-Ireland and who commented after the match that “you Irish treat the game like it’s a matter of life and death” to which some quick-wit replied “ah God no – it’s much more important than that.”
People in this room don’t need to be told or reminded of the wonderfully powerful magic which involvement in sport can work, does work in our lives. From the simple but profoundly important things like the friendships, the loyalty to team and to club, county, country - the commitment, the discipline, the exhilaration of being the best, the humbling acceptance of being the loser, the well-being that comes from participating, from feeling alive, from feeling included.
What you have achieved, what we celebrate today has not come easy. You have worked hard, striving for excellence because it’s only through the pursuit of excellence that victory has become not the dream but the reality for you. We commend you for your great endeavour in all its manifestations, the hardships and injuries suffered, the sacrifices, the training day in day out, year in year out, the time spent away from home and family, the relentless and determined effort to be the very best.
We know that in sport there is never real certainty about the outcome, there are no sure-fire winners, and this is a part of the thrill and excitement for the spectator. It is also part of the lonely journey each sportsman or woman must embark upon, part of the wall they have to face and surmount. You of all people know how closely aligned, how cruelly tight the margins are between smiles and tears, heartbreak and ecstasy, how much courage it takes to square up to those margins, to accept the risks, to commit to the ethic of competing, to testing yourself and being tested rigorously and accepting the outcome no matter what it is.
I know that many of you here today make another valuable contribution to your chosen sport by passing on your skills and sharing your talents and enthusiasm and knowledge with the younger generation. That generosity in sharing your time and talent is a wonderful gift to our youth, helping them to grow and develop and mature, to realise hopes and dreams and to inspire self-belief. As the old and very true Irish saying goes ‘mol an oige agus tiocfaidh siad.’
This event here today is a way of saying thank you for your contribution, hard work and commitment to sport. Thank you for the limitless album of memories you have given to the rest of us, memories opened up, talked of year in and year out, memories which link us to one another, make of us a community of shared memories and not just a random collection of unconnected human beings. I hope that you will enjoy the afternoon and that you will leave the Áras with a new memory or two, some old friendships renewed, some new ones just beginning.
For your entertainment this afternoon we had the very talented Mary Kelly playing the harp in the entrance hall as you arrived and in this room the wonderful Kylemore College String Ensemble.
I would also like to extend my thanks to everyone involved in organising today’s reception especially our good friend and legend in his own right our MC Jimmy Magee.
Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.