REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE UNVEILING OF A PORTRAIT OF JAMES HAMILTON DELARGY NEWMAN HOUSE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE UNVEILING OF A PORTRAIT OF JAMES HAMILTON DELARGY NEWMAN HOUSE
Ladies and Gentlemen
Is mór liom bheith anseo i bhur measc ag an ocáid speisialta seo. Is cuí agus is ceart gur i gcuimhne agus in onóir mhic léinn agus scoláire de chuid na hOllscoile seo - Séamus Ó Duilearga - atámid anseo inniu.
I would like to begin by expressing my great pleasure at being here today to celebrate with you the unveiling of this portrait as part of the centenary celebration of the birth of a very remarkable person, a native of Cushendall, Co Antrim, James Hamilton Delargy. My thanks to the President of UCD, Dr Art Cosgrove, for inviting me here.
James Hamilton Delargy possessed a truly pioneering spirit. We owe much to him for the tremendous legacy of Irish folklore which we have inherited thanks to his many years of enthusiastic collecting and painstaking research. Delargy was instrumental in establishing An Cumann le Béaloideas Eireann (the Folklore of Ireland Society) in 1926, the Irish Folklore Institute in 1930 and the Irish Folklore Commission in 1935. He subsequently became the first holder of the Chair of Irish Folklore at this university.
The Commission has become a University Department that attracts students of heritage and culture from all over the world. Delargy infused students with his belief that the key to the Irish character, indeed any character, was our past and that from the examination and awareness of it, we could derive excellence in our art, our literature and our institutions.
But his was not a narrow or confining preoccupation. The wonderful thing about the Irish Folklore Commission was that it attracted people from all political and religious backgrounds, in a common exploration and enjoyment of Irish mythology and folklore. In a lifetime devoted to the collection and preservation of Ireland’s cultural inheritance, he helped make many different groups of people living on this island aware of the strands of cultural identity they shared, but never sought to eradicate the different religious, social and political affiliations which enriched the Commission. Like the first President of Ireland, Douglas Hyde, for whom he worked as an assistant in University College, Dublin, his approach was to enable those different traditions to meet and embrace in a shared celebration of Irish culture. All of us are indebted to the role he played in our emergence as a nation with a proud heritage and ready to take our place in the international arena.
Although he was a true lover of all things Irish, James Hamilton Delargy was in no way insular in his approach. His love of folklore stretched to an expertise of that in other countries. He helped to rediscover those shared roots, which today enrich our sense of pride in our heritage, our wealth of culture, our ancient bonds with other peoples – enabling us to appreciate our past without being confined by it. He would take pride in the rediscovered Celtic heritage of the Czech people - in the fresh new Ireland-Scotland axis with its capacity for mutual cultural rediscovery, to name just a couple of recent developments which are blossoming today but were seedbedded by James Delargy. Today's cultural renaissance is surely in part Delargy's gift to a generation he did not know but for whom he worked tirelessly and in hope.
I would like to congratulate the artist, James Hanly on his poignant portrayal of a very unusual and extraordinary man. James himself is an honours graduate of this very college and that, I’m sure, helped give him an insight into the feelings and personality of his subject. What he achieves is a total picture of the man, his inner thoughts and his life’s work and I would like to warmly commend him on his achievement.
Before concluding I want to thank UCD for inviting me to share in this tribute. I know the work James Hamilton Delargy initiated is in good hands here and will serve to carry his memory and legacy into the next millennium.
Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.