REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT LUNCH WITH GOVERNOR BRIAN SCHWEITZER & GOVERNMENT LEADERS
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT LUNCH WITH GOVERNOR BRIAN SCHWEITZER & GOVERNMENT LEADERS, THORNTON BUILDING, BUTTE, MONTANA
Dia dhíbh a cháirde go léir. Tá an-áthas orm agus m’fhear chéile Máirtín bheith anseo. Míle bhuíochas díbh as an gcuireadh agus an fáilte sin.
Good afternoon everyone and very many thanks to Governor Schweitzer and all of you for such a warm welcome to the “Big Sky Country” of Montana. On my trip from Missoula to Butte yesterday evening, I had an opportunity to appreciate the wide-open spaces and majestic mountain ranges that surround this part of the country. I know Montana prides itself on being “the last best place” and I can certainly see why. There is a wonderful sense of being close to nature here and it is no surprise that those wishing to escape the pressures of modern life choose to come to Montana.
I came to say thank you and to refreshen very old ties of kinship, for this State welcomed the Irish when they had no means of support at home. Montana literally gave of itself, in the shape of the gold, silver and copper rooted deep underground, to sustain those Irish and to give them the means to develop a better life for themselves and their families and for the generations to come.
Governor Schweitzer, even though your name doesn’t give it away, I believe that your grandparents were Irish. Your governorship is a wonderful example of how far Irish families have come in Montana and in the United States. Of course, you also follow in the footsteps of the first governor of the territory of Montana and great Irish patriot, Thomas Francis Meagher.
I too am following in illustrious footsteps on this visit to Montana. Between the 1880s and the 1920s, the path from Ireland to Montana was well worn by Irish leaders such as Michael Davitt, Countess Markievicz, Douglas Hyde and Eamon de Valera. Although it has been a while since the last major visit, I am delighted to be here to make sure that in each generation there are good friends to carry the torch of friendship in our time and to keep it lit for the coming generation in their turn. That sacred stewardship was taken seriously by our forebears and I know you take it very seriously too, as do we. Yesterday, I was privileged to launch the new Irish Studies programme at the University of Montana in Missoula. Now Montana’s young men and women can have their curiosity about Ireland and her heritage provoked, awakened and deepened in a very special and accessible way. I hope that as they grow in knowledge of Ireland they will learn of the huge contrasts between the Ireland of the 19th and 20th centuries and the Ireland of today.
We were, and not so long ago, a third world country, with mass emigration and grinding poverty - the legacy of a baleful imperial past which set us on bad terms with our neighbour Britain and created a backdrop of sectarian violence from which the North of Ireland is only beginning to recover. The story today could not be more different. Ireland’s economy is booming, emigration has been reversed and tens of thousands come to Ireland from all over the world seeking opportunity. The Good Friday Agreement and the Peace process are the outward signs of a remarkable new relationship between the Irish and British governments and also between the people who share the island of Ireland.
The United States has been a major contributor to both peace and prosperity. Successive administrations have been crucial facilitators of the peace process and that support is greatly appreciated by the people of Ireland. Foreign direct investment has been a key driver of our economic success and here again the US is a significant player as the top investor in Ireland.
Those who came here all those generations ago, came with little but hope and determination. They worked hard in often dreadful conditions. They slowly built new lives but never forgot the old country and it was their hard earned dollars and cents that kept food on Irish tables for many a decade. I hope today’s success here in Montana of their children’s children and today’s success of Ireland itself, help vindicate those lives of self-sacrifice and loneliness. I hope too that in every generation we will make the time and space to keep growing those historic ties of kinship, reenergizing them, reshaping them so that the deep bonds forged by those emigrant lives will continue to bind Montana to Ireland and Ireland to Montana.
Many thanks for this wonderful opportunity to meet you all.
Go mba fada buan sibh go léir anseo.