Remarks by President MCAleese At the launch of‘The New Survey of Clare Island’ Royal Irish Academy
Remarks by President MCAleese At the launch of‘The New Survey of Clare Island’ Royal Irish Academy Wednesday, 9 February 2000
Go mbeannaí Dia Daoibh, a chairde. Tá mé buíoch díbh as an chuireadh a thug sibh dom teacht anseo inniú.
I am delighted to join you this afternoon to launch the first published volume of the ‘New Survey of Clare Island - the History and Cultural Landscape’. The publication of this volume marks an important milestone in a fascinating project which narrates the environmental changes Clare Island has undergone, including this century just past.
Someone once said ‘The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder’ It fits the story of this wonderful project well for, as the word New in the title suggests, there is an older study of Clare Island and the debt owed to that original work is adroitly and magnanimously acknowledged from the opening title on.
Modern scholarly curiosity about this remarkable island has roots in a biological study undertaken at the very start of the 20th Century by the team led by my fellow northerner, the eminent natural historian, Robert Lloyd Praegar. The results of that survey were published by the Royal Irish Academy between 1911 and 1915 and it was that pioneering work which set the intriguing scene for today's research.
The New Survey, however, has a formidably wider scope, embracing the disciplines of archaeology, botany, zoology, geology and history, place-names and folklore. And of course needless to remark, the sophisticated range of working tools available to the research team would have Praeger and his colleagues in a state of shock as they came to terms with advances like radiocarbon dating, the electron microscope and the computer itself.
One unchanging element which Praeger would find reassuring is the continuing support of the Royal Irish Academy, still to the forefront, nearly a century later. Just as his pioneering work was supported by the Academy now his heirs in this valuable work are also supported in theirs.
Both new and old form a continuum of credible, well-researched information and analysis which allows the story of Clare island, to be told accurately and understood deeply. This work published now at the beginning of the 21st century, like the work undertaken at the beginning of the 20th century, will be a gift to a new generation of intellectually curious and hungry young people. It will help them to understand and appreciate the changes which have taken place in Clare Island’s biological, physical and cultural features. It will, I hope, provoke some among them to make a similar gift to the 22nd century with, of course, the help of the Royal Irish Academy.
The gift that is at the heart of this work cannot be underestimated. This first volume covers the history of the first survey along with the history and folklore traditions of the island. And in spite of its remoteness and the sadly diminishing number of inhabitants, it is amazing, even reassuring, to see the age-old customs survive in the language, the place-names, the landscape and the folklife.
We have rediscovered in recent years a fresh pride in our unique culture, music, dance and folklore. Yet much of that heritage might easily have been lost to us but for our island peoples who did so much to preserve and protect that heritage in the face of often overwhelming hardship and despite the scourge of emigration which saw so many of their young people leave.
The islands around our coast demand a very special type of people: hardy, determined, steadfast. Our history also demanded much of them, presenting them with difficulties and challenges, at worst overwhelming, at best surmountable, only with enormous effort. We can be proud of their achievements and grateful for their sacrifices, for those who stayed and for those who had no choice but to go but who took with them their values and their culture transplanting it into new places, giving it new life and a new stage. They in turn are so proud of the Ireland of today and of their contribution to it. This is an Ireland where it is possible to have hope that is not based on the emigrant ship, where there is real opportunity for our young people, a self-assured and accomplished Ireland, comfortable in Europe, globally engaged as never before. For the island people the world of communications, television, computers, of e-mail, the world wide web, of easier transport, increased tourism has brought an intimacy with the rest of the world which will deepen its growing impact on island life in the century ahead. There will be plenty of work for a new generation of scholars. The work we celebrate today will be their bridge to the past, their access to understanding their lives, their times.
This crucial new survey into which so much passion and professionalism has gone was never going to push up the share price index nor was it ever intended to. Its market is that quiet world of observation, reflection, analysing, out of which comes understanding of the destiny of peoples and places. It would not have been possible without the support and assistance of many people and organisations - financial support and professional assistance from the Heritage Council, the Discovery Programme for Ireland, Dúchas and many individual financial contributions. It depended heavily on the wonderful co-operation, patience and friendship of the island community itself. I know that the project managers, the academics and scholars, the field-workers are grateful for all this help and assistance. I know too that projects of this kind are not undertaken without much personal sacrifice and hardship on the part of the team directly involved and their families. And for that we are grateful. The importance of this survey is immeasurable and you can be very proud of your part in this endeavour.
This is, of course, only the start of the current project but the first volume certainly augers well for the ongoing studies and I wish all involved every success and very much look forward to the publication of the remaining volumes.
Guím rath and sean ar bhur gcuid oibre. Go raibh maith agaibh