REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT AN ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY RECEPTION, ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT AN ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY RECEPTION, ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN, THURSDAY 27TH OCTOBER 2005
Is cúis mhór áthais dom fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir chuig Áras an Uachtaráin inniu.
Martin and I are delighted to welcome to Áras an Uachtaráin, so many of you from the world of entertainment. This is a day for saying “thank you” to you, for all the ways in which you lift our lives and enrich our lives. I have yet to meet the person who, when they are feeling a bit lonely or sad, puts on a DVD of a party political broadcast to cheer himself up. The world of public affairs which this building represents sometimes needs to be put into perspective and today, through this reception, we acknowledge the pervasive and deep impact that the art of entertainment has on our lives and on our country.
Whether you make us dance, sing, laugh, listen, whether your work is local, national or international, it all adds up to a huge vocation of care for the creative and the emotional side of human nature. You know when you face an audience what it is like to feel the power that a good entertainer has – the power to play the emotions of strangers like the strings on a harp, to take them on a journey of fun, adventure, amusement, education, to send them home happy with memories to keep them going for a long time. Few professionals have such a comprehensive power for creating that thing popularized as the ‘feel-good factor’. For some people your work is the difference between enduring life and enjoying it, so what you do is not some optional life extra. It is the leaven at the heart of life, the bounce in the ball. If your weren’t doing what you do, there would be lots of very dark shadows we’d find hard to shift, for what is special about this industry is the unique human links it creates and the happiness it brings.
The massive Irish entertainment industry is, thanks to you, a huge economic success story too, as well as a human success story. It is a sector of huge national and international importance but for you whose life it is, it is demanding, capricious and competitive in ways that few other careers are. It can be as careless with talent as it can be careful and it takes a fair dollop of courage as well as talent to commit to it completely.
So today is a down payment on all the thanks we owe you, individually and collectively, for creating and sustaining this industry, which in turn sustains the rest of us; for all the pride, confidence and hope you have helped to generate in ourselves, our culture and in our country. Today is a time for celebration of the achievements of Irish entertainers. To you all, and to your families, a heartfelt and a warm thank you.
Martin and I hope that your visit here today will be an enjoyable one and that you will take the opportunity to relax in each other’s company and exchange a story or two.
I would like to thank our entertainers, the wonderful quartet from the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland, our friends from Civil Defence for their expert assistance and the staff here at the Áras who work hard to make days like this enjoyable for everyone.
Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.