Speech at the Irish National Day Opening Ceremony
Milan EXPO, Italy, 16th June 2015
I am delighted to be here with you in Milan to celebrate Ireland’s National Day at EXPO. It is apt that this national day takes place on Bloomsday, a date which is so significant in the Irish literary calendar, and a date which has forged a unique connection between Ireland and Italy. It was here in this beautiful country, one hundred years ago, that James Joyce began to write his literary masterpiece Ulysses when he was living in Trieste and Rome.
This, one of the greatest happenings and innovations in world literature, is a great reminder of the strong historical and cultural affinities, as well as the deep tradition of friendship that exists between the Irish and Italian people, and continues to grow and progress between us in an increasingly global world.
The exchange of ideas and knowledge between our peoples, which has always been a fundamental element of our friendship over the centuries, continues today and is reflected in Ireland’s participation at Milan EXPO 2015. It is a source of great encouragement that, stemming from this deep and rich relationship, in modern times Ireland and Italy have built such a dynamic and mutually beneficial economic and trading relationships.
I pay warm tribute to the EXPO organisers, to the Italian Government and to everyone who has made this wonderful exhibition possible. The overall theme of EXPO, ‘Feeding the Planet – Energy for Life’, could not be more relevant to the challenges facing the world today.
Global hunger in the 21st century represents the grossest of human rights violations, and the greatest ethical challenge facing the global community. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation, while the world at the present time produces enough food to potentially feed its entire population, more than one billion people are undernourished, over two billion suffer from nutritional deficiencies, and almost six million children die every year from malnutrition or related diseases.
It is a tragedy whose root cause lies not in lack of food, but in the gross inequalities which exist across the world. It is a moral outrage requiring a moral response that will inform and challenge political decision makers and institutions. It requires a response focused on sustainable solutions that will empower those who are currently living in extreme deprivation and who, in present circumstances and arrangements, seem condemned to lives of relentless hardship and hopeless suffering.
2015 is, of course, a crucial year. It is a year in which nations across the world will conclude negotiations on both the UN’s post-2015 development agenda and on the climate change agenda, two critical and inter-related processes which will require world leaders to be courageous and astute in the decisions they make. It is a period which requires vigilance and activism across all sectors of society, including the NGO sector, parliamentarians, public intellectuals, academics, and beyond, so as to ensure that national policies are sourced in global welfare and that mechanisms are put in place which will ensure that policy-makers deliver on their promises.
While the scale of the challenge is great, recent figures from the Food and Agricultural Organisation are encouraging and give hope that concerted international action has the capacity to address the issue of hunger. Approximately fifty five per cent of those countries monitored for progress as measured against the Millennium Development Goals, have achieved the targets in relation to hunger, and twenty two percent have halved the number of undernourished people in their population. This is welcome, but of course insufficient.
Progress has been uneven across countries, regions and sub-regions – North Africa, affected by conflict and instability, in particular is demonstrating a low level of advancement towards the Millennium Goals, while disasters such as the distressing Ebola outbreak in West Africa last year presented serious threats to hard earned gains. Although we survey a somewhat improved landscape, it is certain that global hunger and food poverty continue to be critical challenges which must remain at the top of political agendas across the world.
We have much to learn from both what has been achieved to date, and by reviewing the obstacles that remain in the battle against hunger, as we work to develop policies that will encourage inclusive growth and respond to the challenges of poverty, climate change and land ownership structures.
Ireland has an innate understanding of hunger given our own history of famine, when one million Irish people died of starvation and over one million emigrated during ‘An Gorta Mór’ or the Great Hunger in the 1840s, and food security is given the highest priority in our development aid programme. Of the ODA budget managed by Irish Aid, 20% is directed towards hunger reduction. Ireland is a founding supporter of the Scaling Up Nutrition or SUN Movement which focuses on maternal, infant and child nutrition. Ireland also supports the Action Plan on Nutrition of the European Commission which focuses on under-nutrition, and sets out the priorities of the Commission’s contribution to the World Health Assembly target of reducing global stunting 40% by 2025.
As the world continues to face the great ethical challenge that is global hunger, Ireland as co-facilitator, along with Kenya, of the final negotiations on the post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda, has a critical role to play. Our joint task, with the Government of Kenya, is to bring the inter-governmental negotiations to a successful outcome and thus to support the delivery of a transformative agenda that will shape a world that is sustainable and just in its acknowledgement of universal rights and capacity to flourish. It is both an honour, and an opportunity for our country to contribute to the progression of a global agenda of eradicating extreme poverty.
The great, if uneven, progress achieved under the first MDG Goal of halving poverty and hunger should encourage our ambition in the period ahead. Our shared goal is to end poverty and hunger within a generation. It is a compelling challenge. It offers to the future a legacy of which we could all be proud. It is however urgent. We are the first generation that has the capacity to eliminate hunger and poverty and perhaps the last generation that can address climate change in a way that avoids catastrophic results.
It is essential that in addressing these global challenges of food security and climate change that we are consistent, in that what we practice at home and what we advocate overseas meet the same values – universal values; and also that we share in good faith knowledge and technology with those who need them most. It is important that we transfer capacity as well as injunctions to be responsible.
It is fitting then that Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, has played a central role in the design and content of the Irish Pavilion at EXPO 2015 and it is indicative that its flagship sustainable agriculture policy ‘Origin Green’ has been chosen as the Irish Pavilion’s theme.
Ireland is striving to become a world leader in carbon efficient agriculture and food production and this year became a signatory to the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture. This alliance brings together key players to work together in ensuring that agriculture practices, food systems and social policies will take account of climate change and the efficient use of natural resources.
Origin Green is a voluntary sustainability programme for Irish food and drink producers which gives proof to their commitment to operating in a sustainable manner. Working as it does across the entire supply chain – from farm to manufacturing – Origin Green is the only sustainability programme in the world which operates on a national scale.
Origin Green will be a valuable contributor to the debate on ethical and sustainable solutions to the challenges the world faces and, while it may not be possible to replicate it in every country, it demonstrates the innovative thinking that is so critical in addressing and meeting the challenges of food poverty, and the sustainability challenges in food production.
I look forward to the opportunity to view how the 140 countries present are bringing their own experiences and expertise in their response to the challenging theme of the EXPO. I know that each country will have their own perspectives, informed by their economic and political development and existing access to a secure food supply, but by the end of 2015 we must achieve an agreement that is universal in the sense of application, practice, commitment and consciousness.
I would also like to thank Tourism Ireland for their contribution to developing the Irish presence at EXPO. It is a source of pride that so many people from all over the world choose to visit our green island; and I am delighted that Italians are particularly enthusiastic visitors to our shores. Around a quarter of a million Italians visit Ireland every year, and there has been a further huge increase in numbers this year.
A particular similarity between Ireland and Italy is the beauty of our coastlines. The west coast of Ireland looking out to the Atlantic Ocean, has some 2,500 kilometres of the most captivating coastal drive in the world, stretching from the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal to Kinsale in County Cork. This Wild Atlantic Way, which is featured at the Irish Pavilion, takes travellers through some of the most dramatic scenery on the edge of Europe.
The sheer slate walls of the interior of the Irish Pavilion echo the stone cliffs which Ireland is famous for. I hope that the immersive experience of this exhibition will convey to the visitors to EXPO the great natural beauty of our coastline and encourage even more of them to visit Ireland in the future.
Finally, may I commend the large number of people who have worked tirelessly and creatively to construct and develop the Irish Pavilion. May I thank John Kennedy, Ireland’s Pavilion Commissioner, and all his team including their Italian partners; the Office of Public Works in Ireland; the Irish Embassy in Rome; Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, and Tourism Ireland.
May I also thank our Italian hosts and all of those who have contributed to the Irish presence at EXPO. I look forward to seeing the Irish Pavilion and to visiting as many other nations as time will allow.