REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE DUNDALK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE LUNCH FRIDAY, 7 FEBRUARY, 2003
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE DUNDALK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE LUNCH FRIDAY, 7 FEBRUARY, 2003
Dia dhíbh go léir. Tá áthas orm bheith anseo libh i Dún Dealgan inniu. Mile bhuíochas díbh as an fáilte a thug sibh dom.
It’s good to be with you today and my thanks to Deirdre Ryan, Executive Director for the kind invitation. Thanks also to each of you for the warm Dundalk welcome.
I have no idea how many hundreds of times I have come to Dundalk over the past five decades whether passing through on the way to Dublin, coming from Rostrevor to socialise or shop or to visit relatives and friends. Over those decades, I have gathered many images of Dundalk - from the childhood images of its bustling self confidence as Ireland’s largest provincial town to the grim days when the twin impact of the Northern troubles and economic malaise drained it of energy, jobs and even it seemed, at times, of hope.
Today anyone visiting Dundalk sees a smart, sophisticated, self-confident and vibrant town, with a mood of assertiveness and optimism that is as tangible as it is powerful. This is one of the places where Ireland’s new “can do” mood is showcased at its most exciting best. There is evidence all around of huge financial investment in the town and that investment is in itself a witness to the faith people have in Dundalk’s future. But those outward signs of prosperity and progress are also markers of the relentless work that went into creating a new dawn for Dundalk. Among the hardest workers were the members of Dundalk Chamber of Commerce and you are entitled to take righteous pride in the wonderful transformation wrought by your hands.
The town and wider community of Dundalk can also be justifiably proud of the achievements of Dundalk Chamber. Many imaginative and innovative projects have now developed into employment-supporting local enterprises, thanks to the vital start provided by the Chamber and the Dundalk Local Enterprise Board together with Enterprise Ireland and the IDA. That spirit of effective partnership has been brilliantly utilised here to underpin a renaissance that embraces everything from cross-border trade, to inward investment, from local business and infrastructural development, to arts and culture and education. It seems as if a new spirit has taken hold of Dundalk and its fresh imagination infuses every aspect of life. Now to drive through Dundalk is to feel a profound pride in that imagination and its achievements.
One of the most ridiculous statistics of the past was the fact that the European land border with the least commerce across it was right here on the island of Ireland.
Dundalk business people have long recognised the trading opportunities presented by being so close to the border but that message is only now being properly heard and properly addressed island-wide. Under the Good Friday Agreement, Intertrade Ireland has undertaken the mission of developing cross-border trade and business. Intertrade Ireland’s early work with the business community has clearly identified that it is a lack of knowledge that is hindering increased levels of trade and business development activity between companies north and south. Lack of knowledge in relation to market opportunities, partnering opportunities, supply-chain linkages, the legal and financial implications of doing business in the adjacent market, access to research and development resources, to venture capital and so on. The poet John Hewitt put it quite elegantly- “we build to fill the centuries arrears”. This Chamber is a crucial player in filling those arrears and on that in-filled site, you will help build a shared future of partnership and prosperity North and South.
You already know from your work the fresh thinking, the synergies, the economic harmonisation and spill-over that result from shared endeavour, cooperation, integrated planning and from the pooling of interests, skill and experience. Now Dundalk is to have a starring role as an economic gateway for the eastern Border region under the terms of the National Spatial Strategy. Sitting as it does right in the middle of the Dublin Belfast corridor.
Dundalk is perfectly placed to reap a rich harvest from the abundant opportunities that will be driven by you and people like you, entrepreneurs, risk takers, but above all people who care about this town, its people and its future. You care enough to want the best and there is no doubt but that today’s Dundalk is the best Dundalk yet. Only tomorrows can beat it.
From the dynamism and entrepreneurship so evident here, it is clear that there is at work in Dundalk a galvanised network of endeavour such as has never been seen here before. Though economic fortunes rise and fall to the beat of global drums and Ireland like so many others faces into times less certain than a couple of short years ago, nonetheless we head through these more difficult times confident in our accomplishments, sure of our abilities, resolute in our determination to keep advancing the prosperity of all our people. That we have such self belief and such focus is in no small way due to the catalogue of remarkable things you have accomplished and through which we came face to face, for the first time in our history with the proof of our own genius at work in our own place, in our own time, shaping anew our own future. You alone know the scale of work and worry it took to bring us this far. May you have energy aplenty for the rest of the journey and may your work long be rewarded by Dundalk’s success.
I congratulate you on all you have achieved. In making Dundalk strong you have helped make Ireland strong and for that too you are entitled to a lot of thanks.
Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.