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Remarks to the World Tech Foundation

Áras an Uachtaráin, Dublin, 28th October 2011

Ladies and Gentlemen

Martin and I are delighted to welcome you all to Ireland and to Áras an Uachtaráin for this gathering. I would like to thank Paddy Cosgrave for giving me the chance to offer each one of you the traditional Irish welcome; 'céad míle failte' – a hundred thousand welcomes.

Albert Einstein once remarked that 'Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.' Your creative and imaginative minds have given you fascinating life’s journeys but they have also made so many aspects of modern life much easier for the rest of us even if we are not entirely sure what it is exactly that you do. I have seen fifteen month old babies who handle the i-phone better than I do so don’t expect any treatises on cloud computing from me - just be assured that I and many others are grateful for your contribution to this remarkable era of communications technologies that would have been straight out of the science fiction comics of my childhood.

Ours is a world threatened at times with overwhelming problems and we surely need problem solvers who can operate on a global scale. Many individuals live their lives in the grim half light of underachievement because of poverty, disability, chronic illness or marginalisation. Yet I have lived to see technology offer access to education to those who were excluded, offer new opportunities to the blind and the deaf or those with mobility problems, open up channels of global solidarity and encouragement to those who fight  lonely and dangerous fights against corruption and oppression. I remember rural electrification coming to my grandparents cottage in the 1960s and the sheer wonder that a 25 watt electric lightbulb evoked in their low tech home. Now that same home has a car at the door instead of a donkey and cart, a microwave, washing machine, central heating……. thanks to problem-solving people like you who are constantly pushing the boundaries of technology, coming up with new and better ideas, solutions and ways to make life easier and more efficient.  If there’s anything more impressive than people who have talent and intelligence, its people who complement those qualities with the drive and the enthusiasm that converts brilliant concepts into solid business outcomes.

I’m delighted you have chosen to gather here in Dublin this year, a city that knows a thing or two about innovation, inventiveness and an original way of going about things.  Creativity has always been one of Ireland’s trademarks; whether in business or technology, music or literature, sports or community, the resources of creativity and  originality in imagination are assets and qualities the Irish are renowned for around the world. For a small island population we have produced more than our fair share of Nobel laureates in the literature, science and the great art of peacemaking. This is a city that relishes lively conversation, where everyone has an opinion, where there is a restless curiosity always at work and where the stranger is just an opportunity to make a new friend by swapping of life stories and advice.

There is a joy in life to be found here - a joy that is irrepressible no matter how tough life gets.  We call it “having the craic” and before you think of illegal drugs and the long arm of the law, it is spelled CRAIC and here it means simply having fun in the relaxing company of friends.

I  hope that is what you experience here. Thank you for paying us the compliment of visiting us, every success in your work and businesses, every fulfillment in your personal lives. May your own restless curiosity remain ever fresh and may these days in Dublin be happy and memorable.

Thank you all very much.