REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE CONCERT, CLUJ, ROMANIA WEDNESDAY, 24 SEPT
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE CONCERT, CLUJ, ROMANIA WEDNESDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER, 2008
Mr. Mayor, State Secretary, Minister, Ambassadors, Distinguished Guests,
Doamnelor si domnelor – ladies and gentlemen
First of all let me thank and congratulate the musicians and dancers who have given us this excellent, rousing performance today. I have made it a practice to always try to bring a performance of Irish music and dancing when I travel on State Visits abroad. I do so because I believe it is important to show something of Irish culture to my hosts.
Music in particular is very close to our hearts in Ireland. Visitors to Ireland are often struck by how vibrant our traditional music is and how much it contributes to our distinctive national character. It also has great international appeal. The wonderful Andy Irvine whom we have just heard has worked with musicians here in Romania since the late 1960s so music was building bridges between Ireland and Romania long before the politics of the European Union gave us a common pathway to the future.
Over the last couple of days, I have been struck by both the rapid development of relations between Ireland and Romania and by the enormous potential for taking those relations further, against the background of our shared membership of the European Union.
Here in Cluj, the Masters in Irish Studies offered by the Babes Bolyai University is an excellent example of how our connections are growing. I pay a warm and grateful tribute to the academics here in Cluj, and to the work of the Ireland Romania Cultural Foundation who have done so much to stimulate the great interest that is being shown in Ireland and in our culture.
In the field of business our links are growing healthily too. Irish business interest in Romania is not surprising for the level of economic activity here is remarkable. The evidence of economic dynamism is all around – including the fine new airport building here in Cluj. On Monday evening I attended a trade dinner in Bucharest, which brought together Irish business people and Romanian partners and potential partners and there it was evident that we are just at the beginning of a journey in which we will harness the great potential that exists for mutually profitable economic interactions.
For years, history and geography conspired to keep us at arms length from one another but the tide has changed direction and now the future of every Romanian child is linked to the future of every Irish child as citizens of a common European homeland with ambitions to be the best place on earth to live. That is what we are building between us, the best Ireland, the best Romania, the best Europe.
My sincere thanks once again, Mr. Mayor, for your warm welcome here in Cluj. And, as this is the last opportunity I will have, I would like also to sincerely thank President Basescu and all those who have given us the warmest of welcomes to this lovely country. We have wanted to come here for such a long time, since I first got to know Romania eleven years ago through your then marvellous Ambassador and my Dublin neighbour Elena Zamfirescu. It has been even more, even better than I had hoped and that is all thanks to the people we have met over these memorable, these unforgettable days.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh
Va multumesc – Thank you.