REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE UNVEILING OF THE PEACE BELL ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE UNVEILING OF THE PEACE BELL ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN WEDNESDAY, 21 MAY 2008
Good afternoon everyone. You are all very welcome to Áras an Uachtaráin for this happy occasion when we commemorate the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and the arrival at last of peace. Our monument to these hard-earned times is an old, refurbished bell from the days when the Aras was the Vice-Regal Lodge. It is suspended from a central piece of an oak tree from the grounds of the Áras, which is itself supported by two oak trunks, one from County Antrim, the other from County Dublin. The Glendalough quartz mound that forms its base recalls an ancient, uncontested Boyne Valley site that has forever been part of the shared history of all Irish men and women: Newgrange.
It is fitting that we celebrate that anniversary today among men and women who made the building of peace their business through hard times and often against the tide. We know that it took a massive effort to shift the obstacles left by history. Some of them were shifted by large-scale politics but many were shifted by the small-scale, quiet, courageous efforts of individuals and groups who build bridges of human kindness and contact across the wasteland of contempt and fear. There would be no peace without the efforts of all sectors and today we thank those whose work transformed our thinking and our future.
So many generations have been trapped by the past, its seeds working their way into the future, poisoning it, contaminating it. But not any more. Now in this generation we have this hard-earned chance to reseed the landscape. The bitter harvest is in and now the land lies fallow once again. We have no excuse for getting it wrong, for we know the mistakes of the past and we know the cruelty they inflicted. We have this wonderful opportunity to build a new culture of good neighbourliness and of mutually respectful collaboration. What is truly remarkable is how many once-unlikely people are seizing the opportunity. They know its value, they know its worth. That insight had to be revealed, advocated, learned. Among us are the persuaders, the peacemakers and this day, this monument is theirs.
The bell will shortly be blessed by representatives of our main faiths, no longer “our two main faiths” but representatives of a far broader spectrum of the beliefs and values of those who inhabit 21st century Ireland and who will together construct our best future ever. To those who designed and built the peace bell and in particular to John McCullen, I offer congratulations and to those who built the peace I say a thank you for bringing into our lifetime the day when, with growing confidence, “each may grasp his neighbour’s hand as friend”.