REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE WORK OF PEACEMAKERS
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE WORK OF PEACEMAKERS THROUGHOUT IRELAND AT ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
Is cúis mhór áthais dom fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir chuig Áras an Uachtaráin inniu.
Both Martin and I are very happy to have this opportunity to welcome you here today to Áras an Uachtaráin. A very special and heartfelt Céad Míle Fáilte to each and every one of you. I think of today as a day to express gratitude for the crucial work you do in building and sustaining the web of respectful links between communities throughout Ireland, North and South. It is that web which holds us together particularly in difficult times like those we are in today. Some places have lulls after storms, we have storms after lulls and today we have the crew who have manned all the lifeboats, who know a thing or two about storms and who know how to navigate safely to the shore of peace.
At this time when so much of our attention is drawn towards the fraught world of frontline politics, it is easy to forget the parallel and intricate web of daily activities of local groups and people on the ground who are continually and relentlessly building bridges the length and breadth of this island. 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 do their little bit. Importantly you were doing this work during the worst of times and you kept going no matter what the pressures or obstacles. There are no jeremiads in this room. Your work takes many different shapes and sizes but each of you has given 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.
We have mountains of doubt, prejudice and distrust to remove before we get to that blessed destination called peace. There are plenty of spectators, plenty of people to tell us how big and intractable those mountains are but no amount of watching or measuring will reduce the load. We need champions to be signs and voices of contradiction amid the welter of blame and counter-blame, of bitter recrimination and sectarian hatred. We need people who know that if you want the crowd to follow you, you don’t follow the crowd, people who can take the loneliness of the journey, who can find the endless patience, who can see the fantastic world we are capable of creating and who refuse to settle for anything less.
Not a single one of us here has the remotest prospect of ever changing the past. We might wish that we could but we would wish in vain. But we have this day, this minute and with that raw resource and our own passion for peace and for partnership, we can change the history that will be tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. Our landscape is today and through today, tomorrow. At the heart of that landscape is a fragile plant - the Peace Process, carefully and courageously seed-bedded, helped to survive through droughts and floods, we are now its stewards.
If we are good and attentive and faithful all weather and not just fair weather gardeners, we could live to see this plant transform our future allowing us for the first time to know our true strength and our true potential. I am reminded of the poignant words of TS Elliott who said:
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.
It is for each of us to do whatever we can to ensure that we do not miss the opportunity to enter the rose garden. The prize of peace, which has been so painstakingly built over the past four years and has been delivered well, is just too great and precious a gift to walk away from and to leave to the careless, neglectful or overwhelming elements.
That is why you have been and remain so vital and why we need you to recommit with a new energy to the hard labour of peacemaking. Today is a way of paying tribute to the faith you have in our future. 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. Blessed be the peacemakers for they will never be made redundant and though the kingdom of heaven will be theirs they will be worn to a frazzle by the time they get there. May today help refill the empty tanks of hope and keep us together on this hard road to a soft place.
I would like to thank our MC today Eugene Downes, Orlagh Fallon who entertained us so beautifully in the entrance hall on the harp as you arrived, and in this room the wonderfully talented Colmcille Ladies Choir. My thanks also to John Gould, Civil Defence Officer for his expert assistance.
Go n-éirí go geal libh. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.