REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT SHOWCASE IRELAND 2009 RDS, DUBLIN MONDAY, 19 JANUARY 2009
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT SHOWCASE IRELAND 2009 RDS, DUBLIN MONDAY, 19 JANUARY 2009
Good morning, everybody.
Is mór an pléisiúir dom bheith anseo libh inniu agus ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl díbh as an chaoin-chuireadh agus as fáilte fíorchaoin.
Thank you for that warm welcome and it is my great pleasure, in turn, to welcome all of you and in particular those of you who have travelled great distances to be here today. The traditional Irish greeting is céad míle fáilte, or one hundred thousand welcomes and we hope you will feel every one of them!
My thanks to Úna Parsons of the Craft Council of Ireland for inviting me to this fascinating Showcase of Ireland’s best products and crafts. The range of exhibits, the sheer excellence of our award winners, even in these tough times, lifts our hearts and makes us proud. Importantly they also draw quite a powerful, high calibre audience of domestic and international buyers and journalists and I am sure they will be impressed by the quality of what they see. The richness, quality, diversity, confidence and creative genius of our indigenous industry and particularly our craft industry are visible in every nook and cranny here in the RDS. Who would wish to be a judge? I thank the judges for taking on such a difficult but pleasant and reassuring task.
Here another generation of dedicated craftsmen and women are revealing to us their own unique chapter in the story of Irish crafts heritage. They each draw from ancient wells but they also deepen and strengthen those wells in their own particular way. They enhance our contemporary world, connect us to past beauty and skill, and take that past far beyond simple replication, into a new relevance, a new expression for our own time. Innovation and competitiveness are going to be key to our economic vitality and our future. We have both showcased here, along with all the elements of fine and wise business practices, the culture of hard work and high level service which maintain the integrity and high reputation of Irish companies and crafts on the world stage.
The buyers are key to the success of this Showcase and the businesses it represents. I thank all of you, whether from Ireland or overseas, for being here and having such an interest in and commitment to our Irish designers and craftspeople. You take our story with you right around the world. You create and retain customers for our goods and services and we very much appreciate your regard for Showcase 2009. I also thank our friends in Enterprise Ireland who in turn tell the story of Ireland and its businesses and products to the wider world and who generate such interest in this Showcase through their international offices.
To everyone who has had a role in the planning and delivery of this wonderful Showcase, warmest thanks to everyone. I wish you a surprisingly happy and prosperous New Year - one that will defy the odds and the omens and that will truly reward your efforts.
Finally, I wish all of you the very best in doing business here this week.
Go raith míle maith agaibh go léir.