REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ST. PATRICK’S DAY RECEPTION ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN SATURDAY, 17 MARCH 2007
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ST. PATRICK’S DAY RECEPTION ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN SATURDAY, 17 MARCH 2007
Céad míle fáilte ag Áras an Uachtaráin agus Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh. Tá súil agam gur bhainfidh sibh sult as an cheiliúradh seo.
Martin and I are delighted to welcome you all here to Áras an Uachtaráin and to thank you all for joining us, from North and South, from East and West, to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the feast day of Ireland’s Patron Saint and our National Day.
It is very easy, now-a-days, to forget what St. Patrick did for Ireland. The strife from which we were rescued by St Patrick was a thing of great cruelty. Head hunting was not a matter of looking for someone to become a Chief Executive Officer for the latest Dot Com company. It was literally a lethal practice. If any of you here have managed to visit the National Museum in Kildare Street, and I would strongly recommend a visit to that treasure house of our past, you may have seen the extraordinary remains of the bog people who died in such cruel and mysterious circumstances.
It is no surprise that St. Patrick’s introduction of a religion of tolerance and mutual respect was welcomed with open arms by all the people in Ireland. There were no Christian martyrs in the early Irish church because the Irish were so thirsty for the doctrine of charity which St Patrick brought, that there was no resistance to the new faith. It made sense to them when they saw what hatred had brought down on their heads - literally.
The centuries of peace ushered in by Christianity were such a time of prosperity that Ireland became the island of Saints and Scholars until it was raided by the Vikings, whose use of physical force undermined the culture of peace. The physical force tradition has taken a long time to transcend but today the people of Ireland North and South, have in their hands the best opportunity for a lasting peace Ireland has ever known. We are laying the foundations for an altogether happier and healthier future for all on this island.
With a backdrop of consolidating peace in the North, with a stellar economy in the South and with the best relationship ever between the governments in Westminster and Dublin, I am certain that I am safe in saying that we are privileged to meet in the best of times. We are experiencing massive change and the journey has just begun.
There is a old Irish proverb which says that two shortens the journey and I have no doubt that as North South co-operation grows we will shorten the journey to mutual respect and trust and to a much better quality of life for everyone.
Many communities, organisations and individuals are working to build the bridges we need so that we can move forward together. I have no doubt that St. Patrick, who arrived here as a mistrusted stranger, would take a great pride in all that is being done to promote generous acceptance of one another and good neighbourliness to one another. We hope that the future will be a place where we are no longer strangers or outsiders to one another but rather firm friends, partners and colleagues comfortable at last with each other’s differences.
I hope that you have enjoyed your visit to our house, and that you will bring some treasured memories back with you to your own place. We certainly have enjoyed your company.
I would like to thank Ciarán Carson, our poet and flute player, and his wife Deirdre, our violinist, for entertaining us so beautifully this afternoon. I would also like to thank our friends from Civil Defence and the staff here at the Áras who have worked so hard to make today enjoyable for everyone.
May I wish you and your families a happy and peaceful St. Patrick’s Day, and a safe journey home.
Go raibh maith agaibh agus slán abhaile.