Remarks by President McAleese, at the Opening of Bloom 2010 Phoenix Park Thursday, 3 June, 2010
Remarks by President McAleese, at the Opening of Bloom 2010 Phoenix Park Thursday, 3 June, 2010
Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo libh inniu ar an ócáid mhór seo. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl daoibh as an gcuireadh agus as fáilte a bhí caoin, cneasta agus croíúil. Thank you for that warm welcome and thanks to Aidan Cotter for his kind invitation to officially open this, the fourth annual Bloom Show here in the Phoenix Park- a picture perfect environment if ever there was one for the Bloom showcase.
With over twenty spectacular show gardens, a floral marquee, food halls, markets and demonstrations, Bloom has, in four short but brilliant years become the epic summer event for gardeners and gourmets, for families and friends looking for a fantastic day out and for inspirational sights and scents.
The perfection of the gardens is a joy for us visitors, a nightmare for the judges and a credit to those whose imagination and hard work produced them for our delight. To paraphrase Rudyard Kipling, “Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade” but most of us could easily imagine ourselves whiling away happy, idle hours in the shade of Bloom’s beautiful gardens and I know many tens of thousands will do just that.
The resilience and generosity of nature are evident here as well as the common sense attached to growing as much of what we eat as close to home as possible. Bloom introduces us to fantastic produce from Irish artisan producers who are passionate about the food we eat and Bloom is also encouraging us to grow our own fruits and vegetables. It is not only fascinating fun, educational, and cheap, but the food is more nutritious, it reduces our dependence on imports and processed foods, it lessens our carbon footprint and use of packaging, enhances our awareness of recycling, composting, nature itself and our stewardship of the natural environment.
It is perhaps no accident that Bord Bia have scheduled this fantastic event so close to the 16th June – the day that Leopold Bloom undertook his epic fictional walk around Dublin. As Leopold ordered refreshments in Davy Byrnes, he reflected that “God made food, the devil the cooks.” Mr Bloom was not referring to the guest cooks at Bloom though I am sure the food here is diabolically good.
I offer thanks and congratulations to our host An Bord Bia for staging such a spectacular weekend. The Bord has great help in the numerous sponsors who have, committed to Bloom, the Office of Public Works who have developed and maintained this wonderful parkland site and then there is that army of designers, growers, landscapers, food producers and craft workers who didn’t stay in the shade but whose labours we enjoy. The spirit of Ireland at its best is to be seen and felt here- and as our economy at last begins to rally and our citizens’ sacrifices secure the future, this is a place to experience real pride and hope in our beautiful country and in ourselves. Thank you for all of that and it is my great pleasure, to declare the Bloom 2010 officially open. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.