Remarks by President McAleese at the opening of Allihies Copper Mine Museum Allihies, Beara, Co Cork
Remarks by President McAleese at the opening of Allihies Copper Mine Museum Allihies, Beara, Co. Cork Wednesday, 12 September
A chairde,
Tá áthas orm a bheith anseo libh inniu, agus ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil libh as ucht an cuireadh a thug sibh dom labhairt libh ar an ócáid seo.
I can’t imagine a more beautiful place to be than here on the magnificent Beara peninsula, so blessed by nature with the drama of mountain and sea all around. I imagine for those whose tough and dangerous work was in the copper mines the sight of such beauty, the freshness of the air must have been a tonic after a day’s hard work. And today, long after their life’s work is over and long after the copper mining has ended, a new generation has restored the miners’ story to memory here in this fine museum.
I doubt very much if copper mining was ever a labour of love. But the creation of this museum definitely is and I thank Charles Tyrell and the board and staff of Allihies Parish Co-operative Society for inviting me to join this day of celebration when we officially open the Allihies Copper Mine Museum and crown with success their years of planning and fundraising and building.
Not only have you given a new lease of life to the old Church of Ireland building but in so doing you have revealed the unique history of this area that started with the arrival in the mid-nineteenth century of Welsh miners, to work these then- new mines and to teach the skill of mining. This was their Church built for them so, as a venue for the museum it holds a very special and direct link.
Now old and new blend elegantly together so effortlessly that it would be easy to overlook the huge amount of effort that it took to create this wonderful new facility. It is a credit to this community from whom the inspiration and energy came. It is a credit to West Cork LEADER Group and its support for innovative rural development. Now we have both a monument and a museum, a place where all can access this intriguing part of our nation’s story.
These mines shaped the lives of your forebears. For many it shaped their deaths too, for the work was difficult, dangerous and physically very demanding. But the alternative was the emigrant ship and indeed there came a time when there was no choice but that dreaded voyage to America. If you were in Butte, Montana today you would meet there every single name you would meet in Beara for, as the mining tailed off and ended in one place, it began in another and the Irish miners, like the Welshmen before them, followed the mining jobs.
I visited Butte in May 2006, saw the mines, met the miners and their families, heard of their love of Ireland, the land they left and longed for, heard too of how the mining there had ended with the cruelty of high unemployment and environmental pollution on a huge scale. So many had been forced yet again to move on to places of new opportunity. Yet they had a proud memory of the heyday of those mines when Butte was prosperous, when the Irish in Butte were legendary for their fidelity to Irish culture, the Gaelic language and her freedom. It was in the library in Butte that I chanced upon a letter from Eamon de Valera, written from his cell in Kilmainham. In that letter he thanks his many friends in Butte for their support and tells them he knows they will remain custodians of Ireland’s destiny. In Butte they talk of Beara as if it was down the street. They talk of Ireland as home.
Those brave emigrants were true pioneers and this Museum captures an important part of their story, the start of their story. They too would feel a righteous pride in the accomplishments of the people of Allihies, their people, in being so faithful to their heritage, so careful of their memory. There is a huge enrichment brought to this community as a result of working together to bring this project to fruition and there is now a fine gift offered to all who come as visitors - a point of access through which we get to know better our past generations, their trials, their courage and their spirit.
I wish you all success in this very worthy venture. I hope that the future generations who come will be as enthralled by the story and as grateful for the sacrifices of the people who created the history of Allihies’ copper mines as we are today.
Guím gach rath oraibh agus go n-éirí go geal leis an tionscnamh.