Remarks at Community Garden Party
Áras an Uachtaráin, 12th July 2013
Dia dhíbh a chairde, Sabina and I would like to welcome you and thank you all for coming to the Áras today – céad míle fáilte roimh gach duine atá anseo.
Tá súil agam go bhfuil sibh uilig ag baint taitnimh as bhur lá i ngairdíní Áras an Uachtaráin, is gairdíní atá ar a mbarr áilleachta an taca seo den bhliain de thoradh obair thiomanta na foirne garraíodóireachta. Tá freagairt iontach tugtha agaibh dár lucht siamsaíochta agus tá rogha gacha bídh réitithe daoibh ag foireann an Árais.
I hope that you are all enjoying your day at Áras an Uachtaráin gardens which are looking at their very best at this time of year due to the dedicated work of the garden staff. You have given a great response to our entertainers and the staff here have produced excellent fair for you to enjoy.
I particularly wish to welcome the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Oisín Quinn, the Mayor of Derry/Londonderry Councillor Martin Reilly and the Mayor of Limerick Councillor Kathleeen Leddin.
To mark the significance of this particular day, we have invited a lot of people from Northern Ireland and from organisations in both parts of the island who are working together to make our society and our communities better places. Whether we derive from the Williamite, Jacobite or “none of the above” traditions, what brings us together today is the common objective we share of making our island a better, fairer and more prosperous place for all our citizens.
The garden party season is always a special time of the year in Áras an Uachtaráin, a time when Sabina and I get the opportunity to welcome families, communities and civic society groups to the Áras and to share with them this beautiful house and grounds.
As President of Ireland, I am fortunate to receive many invitations to share in community events, anniversaries and celebrations throughout the island and I go to as many as I can. It is an opportunity to see the community spirit that exists in abundance in all parts of Ireland; to see the real pride of towns and communities that have united in a concerted effort to enhance the place in which they live.
When communities work together amazing things can happen.
Since becoming President of Ireland, I have visited Northern Ireland on eight occasions. In fact, on my fourth day in office I travelled to Derry for the Final of the RTE/Cooperation Ireland All-Island School Choir competition. What a winning and inspiring combination – young people from schools across Ireland coming together to celebrate the beauty of music and song.
Since then, the Derry/Londonderry City 0f Culture has been brilliantly realising and profiling all of the creative talent and potential of the Maiden City. Some exceptional exemplars of that talent have performed for you earlier and we shall hear from them again. To those of you from Derry, congratulations on a wonderful first six months and best wishes for the remainder of the year.
In 2014, Limerick will pick up the baton when it becomes the first designated City of Culture in the South. I know that Limerick will benefit from the Derry/Londonderry experience and I wish the city of my birth every success as it prepares for next year.
With us today are representatives of many communities and organisations who are working hard to make our island a better, fairer, more inclusive and more reconciled place; a society in which we can at the same time be at ease with ourselves and with others who have different allegiances or aspirations.
There are a number of people here today who are from the Orange tradition on this island and who may – on this of all days – have thought twice about coming to the home of the President of Ireland.
Thank you for the generosity of spirit that has brought you here. You are most welcome in Áras an Uachtaráin – a place which embodies the history of this island in both its Irish and British manifestations. Sabina and I are delighted that you are here and hope you enjoy the evening.
We are also delighted that the sports organisations in Ulster are well represented here this evening – particularly the GAA, the IRFU and the Irish Football Association who are doing such good work on the ground promoting their games, encouraging good community relations and working hard to rid sport of sectarianism and racism.
In both parts of the island, the vision of a fairer, more inclusive and reconciled society is widely shared. I am therefore very pleased that representatives of the Equality and Human Rights Commissions in Northern Ireland are with us this evening, as well as the Human Rights and Equality Commissioners Designate in the South. Working together, these organisations have an important role to play in ensuring the rights-based new beginning envisaged in the Good Friday Agreement and I wish them well in their cooperative endeavours.
This is, of course, a decade of important commemorations for us here in Ireland; a time when we remind ourselves of, and mark some of the significant events which lead up to and brought about the formation of the political architecture on the island.
It is a time to remember that a knowledge of our history local, national and international, is intrinsic to the creation of active and responsible citizenship and to the building of communities and a society that are fair, inclusive and participative.
Last year, we marked the significance of the establishment of the Irish Labour Party, the Home Rule Crisis, the formation of the UVF and the Ulster Covenant.
This year we are celebrating the courage, endurance, and historical human rights significance of the Great Dublin Lockout of 1913.
Today, and right through the garden party season, we are fortunate to have been able to access for you a visible reminder of a seismic period in our national history. We are deeply grateful to the National Transport Museum for lending us the open front tram which is on display here this afternoon and which survived both the 1913 Lockout and the Easter Rising.
May I urge those of you who haven’t already done so to view the open tram, which was such a part of ordinary day life in Dublin during a formative time in our national history that lead to this State being born, and relive in your imaginations those turbulent, seismic and critically important days.
May I, on all of our behalf, thank all those who have worked so hard on behalf of the Áras to make this a wonderful occasion for you.
A big thank you to our MC, Tommie Gorman. Since 2001, Tommie has been RTE’s Editor in Belfast and his empathetic and authoritative reporting has made its own constructive contribution to the peace process in Northern Ireland.
My special thanks also to the Mayo Youth Orchestra, to Mairead Carlin from Derry, the young prodigy Soak who is also from Derry, the Killian Shannon Traditional Band and, of course, The Undertones. The latter may no longer be teenagers but they still have the talent and the energy to kick. You all have enhanced our guests’ experience here today with your verve, talent and enthusiasm. Sabina and I are looking forward to seeing you perform again in a few moments.
A big thank you, also, to the staff here at the Áras, to our friends in St John of God’s, the Civil Defence, the Gardaí, the tour guides and all who have worked so hard to make today an occasion of friendship and joy.
I am delighted to have the opportunity to welcome you to Áras an Uachtaráin and its grounds; an experience I hope you will find both memorable and enjoyable.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.