REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE STATE DINNER FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEM. REP. OF TIMOR-LESTE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE STATE DINNER FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF TIMOR-LESTE
Excellency Dr José Ramos-Horta, President of Timor-Leste, Taoiseach, Ministers, Members of Oireachtas Eireann, Friends of Timor-Leste.
I am delighted to welcome my great and good friend – inspiring champion of peace - celebrated Nobel Laureate – distinguished international statesman - President José Ramos-Horta to Ireland and to Áras an Uachtaráin on this, the first State Visit by a Timorese President to Ireland.
President Ramos-Horta is no stranger to Ireland or to many of us gathered here this evening. We well remember meeting you Mr. President on the many occasions that you travelled to Ireland during an exhausting yet tireless campaign to win international understanding and support for the legitimate aspirations of your people. That mission which told of your suffering people’s thirst for freedom and democracy found an immediate resonance in the minds and hearts of the Irish people. Many of them rallied in the cause of the Timorese people and it is good to acknowledge the presence here tonight of some of your most ardent Irish supporters. I want to single out for particular mention, the indefatigable and quietly insistent Tom Hyland. Tom’s dedication to the cause of Timor’s independence is legendary and his persuasive advocacy created many an ambassador for Timor-Leste in Irish homes, not least my own where Timor-Leste became the first active human rights campaign of my then very young teenage children. Tom’s enduring love of Timor and of justice for its people has cemented a partnership of solidarity and friendship between Ireland and Timor and I am delighted to acknowledge Tom’s presence among us here this evening.
Tonight we can celebrate those deep bonds of solidarity and of friendship in much better times for Timor-Leste. We have an axis of partnership that is deep and strong, supporting each other in our two dynamic regions of the world – the European Union and South East Asia – and working together to consolidate and promote the humanly decent values we share.
Our friendship easily transcends the many thousands of miles that separate us for, while geography places us far apart, history places us both among the unhappily colonized peoples of the world. Our nations’ narratives have many common elements in the history of struggle for human rights, for the rule of good and fair law, for democracy, freedom and self-determination. These shared experiences have created between us a spontaneous empathy and mutuality that embody the very heart of the friendship between our two peoples.
In the efforts to bring peace to our respective island nations and to fully realise the historic rights of our peoples, both our countries have benefited from talented and selfless individuals of exceptional character and courage whose lives have been given over entirely to the service of their people. Often they have endured suffering, scapegoating and danger. Occasionally they have in their lifetime achieved deserved recognition and we in Ireland celebrated the recognition conferred on you those troubled years ago by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. But we know that for you the real prize was to come a few years later in 1999 when Timor-Leste re-affirmed its wish for independence. Ireland was quick to translate years of solidarity with the Timorese people into practical support and assistance first with the deployment of Irish Peacekeepers and shortly afterwards the establishment of a development assistance programme which continues to this day.
Through Irish Aid, our Overseas Development Assistance Programme, we have been able to work with successive Timorese Governments in helping to develop its resilient institutions of state, restructure its Public Service, develop its local government, strengthen its electoral process and, I am particularly proud to note, support the establishment of the Office of the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality which, it is worth noting on this International Women’s Day, is influencing policy at all levels within government, ensuring that national development cherishes women and men equally.
In more recent years Ireland’s assistance to Timor-Leste has developed a new dimension through the activities of the Conflict Resolution Unit established in our Department of Foreign Affairs. This work has centred on sharing lessons from our own arduous and long efforts to build peace on our island. While all situations of conflict are unique, the complex architecture of peace-making is a very human endeavour and we hope our experience can be distilled into lessons worth sharing with others who are also on the road to peace. As the old Irish proverb says – two shortens the road.
Timor-Leste is working assiduously to address its legacy of conflict, not least through the activities of the Commission on Truth Reception and Reconciliation, important work that is ongoing. Important too in that same context is the work of the cross-learning conferences organised around United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, worth remarking on especially on this day, since it acknowledges the tragic reality that women are liable to suffer disproportionately more during periods of conflict. Both Ireland and Timor-Leste have produced many exceptional women who have taken on onerous roles of public leadership and service. One such is our own dear friend Baroness Nuala O’Loan who has not only taken up the leadership role in Ireland’s implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 but is also Ireland’s Special Envoy in Timor-Leste. Another important human bridge between us and a working symbol of the will both countries have to build much happier futures for our peoples.
Ten years ago, the popular consultation of 30 August 1999 marked a new dawn for the people of Timor-Leste as the Good Friday Agreement had done for us a year earlier. Since then wise leadership on both sides of the world has established the foundations for sustained peace, for an egalitarian and democratic future and for prosperity.
I happily avail of this important State visit by an extraordinary leader and peace-maker to renew Ireland’s commitment to enduring partnership and friendship with the government and people of Timor-Leste.
I invite our guests to join me in a toast to Dr José Ramos-Horta, President of Timor-Leste, to his people, to their health, peace and prosperity and to the abiding warm friendship between the people of Timor-Leste and Ireland.