REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT AN IRISH COMMUNITY RECEPTION HOTEL ADLON, BERLIN TUESDAY, 26 FEB
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT AN IRISH COMMUNITY RECEPTION HOTEL ADLON, BERLIN TUESDAY, 26 FEBRUARY 2008
Ambassador Donoghue, Jill, ladies and gentlemen
Dia dhíbh a chairde. Tá mé iontach sásta bheith i bhur measc tráthnona ar an ócáid speisialta seo dom. Míle bhuíochas díbh as an fáilte sin.
I am delighted to join you here this afternoon in this historic city and, on behalf of the entire delegation, I'd like to thank you for that very warm welcome. It is great to be in the company of so many people who are the very spirit and character, the soul and the essence of Ireland here in Germany’s capital.
Berlin has an iconic status in European history. The images of the fall of the Wall in 1989 are seared in the minds of all Europeans who were privileged to be witnesses to that epic day. I still remember the soaring joy a short time later as thousands of marathon runners - among them my husband - ran through the streets of a reunited Germany, a mended Berlin. In many ways this city has become the very embodiment of European solidarity, a symbol of the power of European unity.
Today a city that suffered much has become again a vibrant, confident, cosmopolitan centre at the crossroads of Europe, showcase of a visibly exciting architecture and an intangible but very real spirit.
There has been a to-ing and fro-ing between Ireland and Germany for centuries, from the mediaeval, Irish monks and scholars who left their imprint in so many ways to the Wild Geese, victims of our turbulent history who found sanctuary here as soldiers or civil administrators - the early predecessors of those who come on Erasmus scholarships today from a much less turbulent Ireland. In the nineteenth century it was German philologists like Kuno Meyer and Johann Caspar Zeuss who, travelling in the opposite direction, helped revitalise our native language and culture while the Brothers Grimm became fascinated with Irish folklore. In the mid-twentieth century Heinrich Böll fired the German imagination with his beautiful word-sketches of the west of Ireland. And in our own time, Hugo Hamilton’s fascinating account of his childhood in a German-Irish family in Dublin has found an enthusiastic readership in Germany. I am delighted to see Hugo and his wife Mary Rose here today.
There are many, many lived lives that form human bridges between Ireland and Germany, opening our countries and cultures up to one another. You are part of that great bridge of friendship and curiosity that links us in these contemporary times when we are all also not just random strangers or even random friends but rather common citizens of the European Union, with a shared identity and a shared future.
The extent to which we are now related to one another is seen in many ways, some easily measured others much more subtle. Germany is Ireland’s most important trading partner in continental Europe, and German investment in Ireland is surpassed only by the US. 150 German companies account for more than 13,000 jobs in Ireland, and Irish companies have now begun to invest in Germany. 20,000 airline seats each year link all parts of our countries. And then there are the more subtle things - the way Germany, the largest Member State of the Union, has consistently taken account of the interests of its smaller partners such as Ireland. This was certainly the case with Germany’s very successful Presidency of the Union last year. There are the values we share in common, the commitment to democracy, human rights, the peaceful conduct of international relations, the supremacy of the United Nations, the desire to make Europe a bulwark of peace and stability in our world, the desire to bring effective hope to the poorest of the world’s poor.
But the most formidable and enduring of relationships are those which you make here in Germany as unpaid ambassadors for Ireland here and unpaid ambassadors for Germany in Ireland. By you is Ireland judged. Through your lived lives here in Berlin, as friends, colleagues, partners, spouses, neighbours, you carry an image of Ireland and you make friends for Ireland in the most remarkable and best of ways - heart to heart, human being to human being. Your German/Irish children draw from two great wells of culture and grow up as citizens of a common European homeland. They are living the European dream. You are creating that dream, drawing Europe’s men, women and children, closely, intimately into each other’s orbit, introducing us to our differences, making us comfortable with one another. This is the very seed corn of peace and prosperity. Thank you for all the ways you consciously and unconsciously build us into family whether in Dublin or Berlin.
A big thank you also to our Ambassador, his wife Jill and to his staff for creating this occasion to meet one another and enjoy a special afternoon of family, friendship and fun - the things that Ireland is famous for.
Rath Dé ar an obair. Gurb fada buan sibh ‘s go raibh míle maith agaibh arís.