REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL LOS ANGELES
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL LOS ANGELES THURSDAY, 16TH SEPTEMBER, 1999
Is cúis mhór áthais dom bheith libh inniu ar an taobh seo den domhan - mo chéad uair mar Uachtarán na hÉireann. Tá mé bhuíoch díbh as an chaoin-chuireadh agus as ucht an fáilte a thug sibh dom.
It is a great privilege for me, on my first official visit to California, to have been invited to address your Council in this magical city. I am well aware that the West Coast is the leading source of high-tech investment in Ireland. And knowing IDA Ireland’s crusading approach to its job, I am sure that Enda Connolly and his team view each of you as an investor or potential investor and me as part of their marketing support! Whatever my role, I propose telling you about modern Ireland as I see it.
Ireland has been profoundly transformed, economically and socially, over a single generation. It is a transformation that has been described by the US-born author, J.P. Donleavy, who now lives in Ireland, as the most incredible revolution any society has ever undergone. While that may be something of an exaggeration, there is no doubt that our rate of economic growth and development in recent years is unique in the modern European experience – and has been accompanied by an equally dramatic degree of social transformation.
This extraordinary story provokes two questions: How did it come about? And what are the key challenges facing us in the future as we look forward to the new Millennium?
These seemingly straightforward questions, perhaps inevitably, have quite complex answers. On the economic front, the seeds of our present-day economic success were sown in the 1960’s, when we began to abandon the policy of protectionism which had been followed since our independence, forty years earlier. Major initiatives were taken at the time to generate an investment climate which would encourage foreign export companies to locate in Ireland.
Foreign investors responded with enthusiasm, none more so than American companies who quickly became by far our most important source of inward investment. Today, American affiliates account for almost two-thirds of all jobs – and 80% of exports – by foreign subsidiaries in Ireland. We deeply appreciate the crucial contribution which that long-term commitment has made to today’s flourishing economy.
That success did not, of course, happen overnight. Our attractiveness as a location for foreign investment was enormously boosted by joining the European Economic Community, as it was then, in 1973. That important step not only opened up markets – it also expanded our horizons, giving us both the means and the confidence to become the gateway to Europe.
Of equal importance was the fact that we targeted key industrial sectors, producing sophisticated and high-value products which offer the best growth potential. This policy has reaped enormous dividends, and it was made possible because of our strong commitment to investing in a highly educated and skilled workforce. The opening up of free second level education to all our people in the 1960’s proved to be one of the most far-sighted and important elements in securing our later economic success. It provided opportunities to a far wider range of people, from all social and economic backgrounds, and thereby released a huge reservoir of talent and energy.
Of course the type of education in which we have invested, has also been crucial. Our education system, traditionally classically based, has been massively transformed, first at secondary level and, more recently, with the creation of new universities and Institutes of Technology. These have catered for new economic and social needs and – perhaps most importantly – new personal aspirations. Women have been particularly prominent in the software sector, which now comprises over 600 companies, including more than 110 multinationals, mainly US–owned. American companies brought new technology and marketing skills to Irish business and through their training and their ethos, they have instilled a new confidence and ambition in their young Irish workforce. We are now the world’s second–largest exporter of software products behind the US – an extraordinary statistic for a country which, not so long ago, was so heavily dependent on agriculture.
Looking to the future, we are conscious of the need to continually invest in our young people, for we know that our capacity to remain at the cutting edge of new technology is dependent on meeting the ever-increasing demand for highly-skilled professionals. We are fortunate that, unlike many other European countries, we have a young population and the demand for software and other high-tech courses at third level remains buoyant – indeed it exceeds our supply. At a time when there is a world-wide shortage of software engineers and technicians, we are therefore ideally placed to lead Europe in the development of emerging sectors such as e-commerce, the Internet and Multimedia.
We know, too, that opportunities in these new sectors will gravitate towards locations with the most sophisticated telecommunications systems. A major investment in world-class telecommunications facilities will shortly be completed, extending the reach of broadband capacity throughout the country. We missed the first Industrial Revolution; we will not miss this one!
All of the above factors – and there are many more – have contributed to the amazing array of statistics which have made the Irish economy a model for other countries to emulate. Our GDP per capita is now comfortably above the European Union average – less than a decade ago, it was just 60%. Forecasters expect our output to grow by 8.5% this year, and growth rates of at least 5% annually seem eminently sustainable into the next decade. Inflation and interest rates are low. Most importantly of all, our unemployment rate, for so long stubbornly high, has plunged to 5.8%.
Ireland, which had for generations witnessed the loss of its young people and their talents to emigration, has now become a country of net immigration. Indeed we have come full circle, benefiting not just from the return of Irish emigrants who have accumulated an impressive range of experience and skills abroad, but also from a new influx of young professionals from other European countries. This phenomenon, together with the buoyant level of natural population growth and the rapid expansion of female participation in the labour market, has been a key factor in enabling our economy to continue its expansion. But our population growth has a dimension beyond the purely utilitarian. The total population of the State is expected to pass the 4 million mark by 2006 – a level we have not experienced since 1871, in the catastrophic post-Famine decline. It is proof to us that we have finally staunched the bleeding away of our best and brightest people, which inflicted such a profound psychological wound on us as a people in past times.
Turning this corner has helped us realise and appreciate, also, that the dark trauma of emigration has brought us a positive and enduring legacy through the great diaspora of Irish people and their descendants that extends across the world today. That extensive network has spread Irish influence and ties of friendship to every part of the globe. But nowhere is the Irish presence more extensive and more important to us than in America, where 42m people claim Irish ancestry. The success of Irish Americans in politics and in corporate America has been – as I am sure you hardly need reminding - truly astounding.
I mentioned previously how important foreign direct investment, especially by US-based companies, has been to our economic renaissance. Corporate investment decisions are of course driven by hard-nosed business criteria – and the presence of so many American companies in Ireland owes much to competitive advantages of the type I have described. But I am equally convinced that our historic and cultural links – the strength of friendship and affection which holds our two countries together – has also played a crucial role. Ireland might not even have been considered as an investment location a generation ago, when the conflict in Northern Ireland was at its peak and our economy was less successful. It is thanks to the many friends we had in the United States - people who understood the situation, who kept in touch with developments and who took the time to explain the real facts to their friends and business contacts – that the pioneers of American investment in Ireland were encouraged to seek us out. I would like to acknowledge and warmly thank the Irish American community for that invaluable contribution. Your help made a real difference when we were most in need of friends.
We Irish, at home and abroad, have always been characterised by our strength in adversity – we have had plenty of practice. The challenge we now face is to manage and sustain our current success, but also to shape the Ireland of the future, socially as well as economically. What type of society do we want? What type of value system do we pass to the next generation?
There is a danger that our dazzling economic figures can blind us to the fact that not all of our people have shared the benefits of that success. There is something incongruous in the conclusion of the recent UN Report on Poverty, that America and Ireland, in that order, have the highest and second highest levels of poverty among 17 western nations surveyed. The measure, of course is not one of absolute poverty, but of the disparity between the richest and poorest in our societies. But it is of great concern that this gap is continuing to grow.
It is important that we do not complacently assume that economic success and social disparity inevitably go hand in hand. We can and must do something to bridge this growing gap – and never before have we had such powerful means at our disposal to achieve this. We now have the economic strength, the growth rates, the prosperity. What we need is the will to make it happen and I believe that we have it.
We still retain a strong sense of community, of responsibility, of caring for others – a legacy, perhaps, of the ‘clan’ ethos in our past. That past is still within our living memory, a time when neighbour helped neighbour, sharing what little they had, out of necessity as well as decency. We are a vibrant first world country but we have a humbling third world memory. That mix gives us a special ethos.
That ethos is evident in the importance we place on social inclusion, on broadening educational opportunities, on giving all of our people – including and especially those who now live in poverty and deprivation – the chance to build a better life for themselves. Social inclusion does not mean fostering dependency – it should be about offering people the encouragement, the education and the skills and the opportunities which will enable them to have the dignity of independence.
The extent to which all the people in our society are made to count – and believe that they count – is not just a measure of decency – it makes sound economic sense. The more people are left on the margins, unable to participate, unable to contribute, the weaker the centre, socially and economically.
The reverse in also true. We saw in the 1960’s how extending educational opportunities helped to lay the foundations of our current economic success. That experience taught us that investing in our people – all of our people - is not only worthwhile but indispensable if a country is truly to reach its full potential. Tackling poverty and deprivation, broadening educational and training skills, therefore remains one of our greatest challenges and we have never been better placed to make it one of our greatest opportunities.
Not only have we in Ireland come to know increased economic success in recent years, we have also come to know hope. Hope that this generation will be the last to know conflict on the island of Ireland. Hope that we can realise the greatest opportunity for a just and lasting peace, that, perhaps, we have ever known.
The Good Friday Agreement was reached by political parties from all traditions in Northern Ireland and by the British and Irish Governments in April of last year, with the support and encouragement of our friends here in the United States. The Agreement gives us an opportunity to overcome the divisions of the past and to build a new future together based on peace and partnership.
A future where we commit ourselves to the peaceful and democratic resolution of our problems; a future where partnership, equality and mutual respect will form the basis of relationships within Northern Ireland, between North and South and between the islands of Britain and Ireland; a future where we undertake to vindicate and protect the human rights of all of our people and where we dedicate ourselves to the achievement of reconciliation, tolerance and mutual trust.
In the opening words of the Agreement itself, we have been presented with a “truly historic opportunity for a new beginning”.
But just as it took slow work to reach an Agreement after generations of mistrust and suspicion, so it has taken and will continue to take slow, sometimes even painfully slow, work to see it fully implemented. We have yet to develop sufficient trust and confidence between the different political parties to enable the core institutions under the Agreement to come into being. The parties, under the wise stewardship of Senator George Mitchell, are currently meeting in Belfast to seek a way in which all can move forward together. I know that you will join me in wishing them every success in their endeavours.
As I have said, progress has been slow, and there have been difficulties and disappointments, but I am in no way disillusioned. The people in Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland desperately want the Agreement to succeed – they gave it their overwhelming democratic endorsement and they know that only through the compromises and accommodations it involves can real peace be delivered.
Just as the Agreement promised a new beginning in relations on the island of Ireland, so it promised a new beginning in relations between the two islands of Britain and Ireland – recognising that there are deep and historic links between the peoples of Ireland, of England, of Wales and of Scotland.
It is most appropriate that the Agreement comes at a time when the United Kingdom is itself undergoing considerable change and renewal. The people of Scotland and Wales have both voted in referenda to bring devolved Assemblies into being in Cardiff and Edinburgh and a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly have now been elected and stand ready to participate, together with representatives of Ireland, North and South, in the British-Irish Council which will come into being at the same time as the other institutions envisaged under the Agreement.
The British-Irish Council will, I believe, be but a part of the forging of closer and deeper links between our peoples. Although much of our shared history is fraught and difficult, and there is much to be regretted in our past, it is a fact that there is also much to be celebrated. We share a Celtic heritage and much of our culture with Scotland and Wales. Many of the people in Northern Ireland can trace their ancestry to Scotland in particular. Down the generations, countless millions of Irish people have made a home in Britain and have made a real and lasting contribution to the cities and the towns where they lived.
It is right that proper expression be given to the importance, the complexity – the very existence – of these links as we come to build a future together in peace.
It is impossible to imagine that the Good Friday Agreement could ever have been reached without the support and encouragement of our friends in the US. The role of President Clinton has been immense – not least, he sent us that great friend to Ireland, Senator George Mitchell. Both parties, in Congress, in the Senate, at state level have done all that we could have hoped for and much, much more to ensure that the peace process could succeed. American business has helped to create the circumstances in which many people could, for the first time, imagine a better and more prosperous life. To all of our friends in Irish-America and beyond, we owe an enormous debt of gratitude. Whenever we needed your friendship and encouragement, you were there for us. On behalf of the people of Ireland let me say that we will always remember and be thankful to you for that.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The approaching Millennium stretches out before us, full of infinite possibility and opportunity. Whatever changes that new era will bring, whatever new pathways we take, I am sure that what will not change is our special relationship with America, forged in adversity, but of immense value to both sides, culturally as well as economically.
I deeply appreciate the very warm welcome I have received here on the West Coast of America. I know that many of you have already visited Ireland, whether for pleasure or business. We look forward to extending a ‘Céad Míle Fáilte’ to many more of you, as friends, old and new, in the future.
Mo bhuíochas libh arís as bhúr gcuidiú agus bhúr dtacaíocht. Guím rath agus séan oraibh sa todhchaí.