REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE RECEPTION IN ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE RECEPTION IN ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN CENTENARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Is cúis mhór áthais dom fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir chuig Áras an Uachtaráin agus muid ag ceiliúradh céad bliain ag dul chun chinn sa Roinn Talmhaíochta, Bia agus Forbartha Tuaithe.
Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a great pleasure to welcome you all today to Áras an Uachtaráin to celebrate the centenary of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. It is, after all, the custom for the President to issue a letter of congratulations along with a cheque, to those who have reached 100 years. Unfortunately I don’t think the Department of Finance’s generosity extends as far as birthday cheques for institutions.
The Ireland that welcomed the establishment of the Department back in 1900 was, needless to say, a very different one to today’s confident, prosperous and increasingly high-tech country. It was, of course, pre-independence times yet, remarkably, its establishment owed less to the official administration of the time than to the vision, energy and determination of a few individuals, especially Sir Horace Plunkett. Plunkett himself was an interesting figure: an Englishman and a Unionist, he was also the founder of the co-operative movement in Ireland, one of the great the success stories of Irish agriculture. He strongly believed in the importance of fostering self-reliance and collective effort, principles which underpinned the foundation of both the cooperative movement and the Department of Agriculture. Plunkett was not without his critics – indeed one of his Assistant Secretaries said of him: ‘that man is a vampire, he sucks the blood out of you’. And today’s Ministers think their civil servants give them a hard time!
But there is no doubt that many of Plunkett’s views sound remarkably fresh and relevant to us today, as we look at the vibrancy of LEADER groups, local development and partnership initiatives around the country, whose success is grounded on those same principles of self-reliance and co-operation. And of course the spirit of partnership took very tangible form in the fledgling Department, given the unionist allegiance of Plunkett, as Vice President, and the equally strongly-held nationalist beliefs of T.P. Gill, its first permanent Secretary. It is interesting to see how, a hundred years on, similar exercises in partnership across the traditions are taking root in the Northern Ireland administration, and I hope that those roots will be as deep and enduring as those which have sustained the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development over the past century.
It is difficult for many younger people today to fully understand the extent of change which the Department has both helped to generate, and had to cope with, over that period. Today’s world of CAP reform, milk quotas, organic farming and genetically modified crops, is a world away from the subsistence farming of a hundred, or even forty years ago. I remember as a child visiting my grandparents tiny farm in Roscommon, the simplicity of that lifestyle, the way neighbour helped neighbour, the purity of the water from our spring well. But I remember also the hardships, the backbreaking work, the scarcity of resources. And while we regret the passing of some aspects of that way of life, there is little doubt that these past thirty years or so have seen enormous changes for the better in the standard of life of the farming community.
The most dramatic driver of those changes has, of course, been Ireland’s accession to what was then the European Economic Community back in 1973. The Department of Agriculture was at the forefront of negotiations, and we owe a great debt of gratitude to the staff involved for the depth of knowledge, commitment and skill that they brought to those negotiations. Subsequent years have generated many more challenges. During the years of market Intervention, staff found themselves operating directly in the commercial world, buying and selling beef, butter and skimmed milk powder; and arranging cold storage facilities as far afield as France and the Netherlands. The operation of the Common Agricultural Policy has imposed massive financial, logistical and administrative burdens on the Department over the years. The staff, past and present, can take justified pride in the effectiveness with which they have met those challenges. You have played no small part in the development of today’s vibrant, modern agri-food sector, a sector that we should not forget accounts for almost 30% of Ireland’s total net foreign export earnings – a fact often overlooked in today’s all-pervasive high tech society. Agriculture remains at the heart of our rural communities, and will continue to be a major aspect of Irish life and Irish identity in the years to come.
I would like to warmly commend all of you here today, and the other four thousand or so members of staff around the country, for your own contribution and commitment to the work of the Department. I know that these past few years have not been easy ones: from BSE to food safety, environmental concerns to further CAP reform, the pressures of work continue to pile higher and higher. I’ve no doubt that it can be difficult in such a large, complex and frenetically busy Department, to feel that your individual contribution matters. But it does count, it does make a difference. And we are fortunate that so many people have given such excellent public service down through the years.
This is a day for celebrating that achievement, and I am glad to have this opportunity to share it with you. I would like to thank our harpist, Suzanne Miller, for her wonderful playing in the Front Hall, and here in this room, we are delighted to have The Conservatory of Music Trio. I hope you have a most enjoyable afternoon, meeting old friends and finding a few new ones. We look forward to the next hundred years.
Go gcúití Dia bhur saothar díbh. Go raibh maith agaibh.