REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT A SPECIAL MEETING OF LISBURN CITY COUNCIL MONDAY, 18 JUNE, 2007
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT A SPECIAL MEETING OF LISBURN CITY COUNCIL MONDAY, 18 JUNE, 2007
I am honoured to be here with you today for this special meeting, at the invitation of Mayor Trevor Lunn (MLA).
I am honoured to visit Lisburn again though, since my last visit, it has of course become one of the newest cities in these islands and of course, since I was last in Lisburn, the political atmosphere has changed considerably. In the nine long years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed it often seemed as if a time like this would never arrive but today we are a very blessed generation to live through times of unprecedented political goodwill on this island. Members of the Northern Ireland Executive, drawn from very different political perspectives, having pledged to serve all the people of Northern Ireland are doing exactly that. A relationship of good neighbourliness and practical partnership is being nurtured with the Republic which is currently enjoying the best rapport ever, not just with the Westminster government, but at every level and in every sphere between Ireland and Great Britain.
Perseverance, courage and leadership have helped this generation to straighten out the skewed relationships that history bequeathed us and those same characteristics will be needed to consolidate this new dispensation, these healthy new relationships and the challenges ahead, from building an entrepreneurial economy to making sectarianism and paramilitarism history.
The recent meetings between the Taoiseach and First Minister, Dr Paisley, have given great reassurance that a shared and respectful future is not only possible but is already emerging. We have all been greatly encouraged by the First Minister’s recent description of his vision for Northern Ireland as a place ‘in which families can live happily side by side, regardless of their community or ethnic background or their religious beliefs’ and a country in which ‘intolerance, sectarianism, racism and violence must have no place …’.
There can be little doubt but that we have entered an unprecedented era, one characterised by the confluence of peace, prosperity, parity of esteem and partnership. No previous generation has known such a time and of course, as this is also the best educated generation, we can look forward to the fruits of its problem-solving genius at work. Northern Ireland has good friends, among them the Irish government which has made a clear commitment to supporting economic growth and prosperity here by investing in infrastructure, especially roads which will benefit the entire community in the North but indeed all the people on the island. Its proposed investment of some £400 million in Northern Ireland’s roads infrastructure gives tangible expression to this commitment.
The roads programme, for example, will be the largest and most ambitious cross-border project ever undertaken on this island and as it develops there will be parallel partnerships in areas like healthcare, trade, tourism, educational services and development of the border regions, to mention just a few key arenas.
As the work of the North/South Ministerial Council and the British-Irish Council gets a new wind, all our citizens will benefit from the emerging culture of courtesy in which wisdom and experience are shared and partnerships encouraged where it makes sense to do so.
There is a wider significance to these historic days here for they send a powerful message of hope to other societies which are still mired in conflict and wondering if there is ever going to be any way out. We can at least tell them that patience and persistence do pay off, that courage and a generous spirit of compromise bring out the best in people, that old enemies can indeed become good neighbours.
To all those here in Lisburn who invested in this new era, often at considerable personal cost and unease, I offer congratulations and warmest good wishes. Thanks to your efforts and the efforts of many who have suffered dreadfully we see the future very differently now.
Expectations are high. That’s a great sign, for the people in their wisdom know that these are times of opportunity and they want these hard-won opportunities used and used well.
In this company today in the vibrant city of Lisburn I have no doubt that the happy future people long for is now at last within view.
Thank you.