REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, MILWAUKEE
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, MILWAUKEE, SATURDAY, 20TH AUGUST, 2005
Chancellor Dr. Carlos Santiago, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for your warm welcome and for this opportunity to visit the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. I generally meet your students and John Gleeson in the hills of Donegal each year, so it is particularly good to come to a place which has so diligently forged and renewed links between Milwaukee and Ireland.
It is a little easier to get here now than it was for some previous travellers from Ireland. I came across an account recently of the arduous journey that people from Ireland took when travelling to Milwaukee in the mid-19th Century. Having first crossed the Atlantic, they would then have to sail north up the Hudson river to Albany, take a horse-drawn canal boat to Buffalo via the Erie Canal, sail across Lake Erie, pass south of Ontario, and travel north past Detroit and Port Huron via the Detroit and St. Clair rivers to reach Lake Huron, then sail northward along the Michigan coastline, through the Straits of Mackinac into lake Michigan and then south to Milwaukee. Thank goodness for air travel – 7 hours and here I am! Though the journey from Milwaukee to Gleann Columcille is still a bit of an epic…
Milwaukee has long since made its mark in charting Irish folklore and history. Back in 1890 Jeremiah Curtin, a linguist and folk tale collector from Milwaukee published his Myths and Folklore of Ireland and it is a matter of real pride that the late Janet and Gareth Dunleavy, biographers of Douglas Hyde, the first President of Ireland, were Professors here at UWM.
The collection of Joyce material from your library is very impressive, as are the historical maps of Ireland. You really have a treasure trove here for anyone with an interest in Irish history or culture. My thanks to the University Library for making these available to us today.
In more recent times, of course, the University’s connections with Ireland, and with the rest of the Celtic world, have come to revolve around the work of the Center for Celtic Studies. I am glad to see that staff members from the Center are with us today, including Co-Director John Gleeson and Professor James Liddy.
Thanks to the Center, students at UWM have the opportunity to truly immerse themselves in the Celtic world, with courses in history, literature, music, politics, Celtic languages (including Irish), and more. They also experience Ireland at first hand through an exciting range of study abroad programmes in locations including Donegal, Limerick and Dublin. Among these is the popular Colmcille Semester Program where students engage in Peace and Conflict Studies and Irish Language and Culture.
The Center’s reach goes far beyond the UWM student body. Through hosting the Milwaukee Irish Fest Summer School each year, the Center puts its wealth of knowledge and expertise on all things Irish on offer to an impressive audience of some 500 students. Minister Ó Cuív who is here with us this evening and has responsibility in the Government of Ireland for the Irish language, attended the Summer School this week and has told me much of its inspirational work, and how the enthusiasm of those attending is matched by the dedication and expertise of the teachers. That powerful collaboration between the Center and Irish Fest brings a unique taste of Ireland to the people of Milwaukee every year.
Minister Ó Cuiv has told me that the funding provided by the Irish Government for the teaching of the Irish language at the School of Celtic Studies is to be increased and extended for a further three years. No doubt this is very welcome news for everyone concerned.
I was particularly interested to find out about the annual Sean Nós weekend in February where singers from all over North America come together for concerts and workshops and when most importantly the repertoire of Sean Nós among the Irish in America is collected and archived in much the same way as Chicago Police Chief, Francis O’Neill did with traditional music a century ago. It is good to hear that the first CD of this project will be launched next Spring to mark the centenary of the visit of Douglas Hyde here in 1906. Douglas Hyde as you may know went on to become the first President of Ireland a little more than 30 years later.
The theatre project with the Axis Centre in Ballymun, Dublin is an exciting initiative for everyone involved and in particular for the two lucky young people from Ballymun who are to be brought here to be part of the Theatre Department’s Professional Actor Training Programme this Autumn. What a brilliant opportunity for them.
Co-director of the Center, internationally renowned Celtic archaeologist Bettina Arnold and her colleagues are working with the newly established Achill Field School providing resources including high tech mapping equipment to create a program there that will attract a host of international students to this island off the west coast of Ireland.
Each of these initiatives provides students with surefooted ways to expand their interest in and understanding of Ireland, past and present. I thank everyone associated with the Center for Celtic Studies for the advancement and enhancement of Celtic scholarship here in Milwaukee, for your huge contribution to international scholarship and for your passionate championing of our shared Celtic heritage.
I thank the Chancellor most sincerely for his hospitality in hosting this event this evening and wish you and this University the very best of Irish luck for the future.
Go raibh maith agaibh.