Speech by the President of Ireland Mary McAleese, at a State Dinne
Speech by the President of Ireland Mary McAleese, at a State Dinner in Honour of H.E. Mr. Ricardo Lagos Escobar
Señor Presidente, es un placer enorme para mi dar la más cálida bienvenida a Usted, a su esposa y a toda la delegación chilena a esta cena especial en ocasión de la primera visita del Presidente de la República de Chile a nuestro país.
It is a great honour and a particular pleasure to welcome you, President Lagos, your wife, Mrs Luisa Duran de Lagos, and all the members of your delegation on this the first visit to Ireland by the President of the Republic of Chile.
Many of my compatriots here this evening will have childhood memories of a delightful poem in the Irish language about a ship sailing from exotic Valparaiso, a white city beneath the blue Andes, evoking a magical voyage of which the poet could only dream. Some Irish followed that dream and made the long voyage to their new homeland in Chile.
Among them was Ambrose O'Higgins who reached the highest office in late eighteenth-century Chile. His enlightened political agenda included advocacy of the study of the language and customs of the indigenous Araucanian people and he was not behind the door in encouraging immigrants from his native land, believing as he did that Chile’s economic development could be greatly developed with the help of “industrious immigrants from Europe", as he called them.
One of Ambrose's closest companions was of course that distinguished Irish-born Chilean, Juan MacKenna, who at certain crucial later junctures was to serve as a vital diplomatic bridge between Ambrose and his son, Bernardo, destined to become the great Liberator of Chile and founder of the new fatherland.
The O'Higgins name has left a lasting mark not only on the history of Chile but also, I understand, on the topography of the country. There are many streets, squares and buildings which bear that ancient Gaelic name. There is a whole O'Higgins province. And even an O'Higgins glacier!
And while naturally these places are named in honour of the Liberator himself, I was recently touched to learn that the Mayor of the City of Santiago has graciously acceded to a request by members of the Irish-Chilean Community to name a square in honour of Ireland, and in particular to commemorate the achievements of the father of the Liberator, Don Ambrosio.
Mr President, the ships sailing nowadays from Valparaiso bring us not only the traditional cargos of minerals and timber, but also very welcome deliveries of high-quality Chilean wine and food products giving much pleasure to many people not merely by transmitting northwards a warm hint of the southern Chilean sun, but also by demonstrating the dedication and skill of your country's wine and fruit growers in the pursuit of excellence.
I know that it is this characteristic dedication to excellence which has inspired the fearless commitment of successive Chilean governments to meeting all the challenges of globalisation. We have admired in recent years the extraordinary expansion of the Chilean economy which has brought such benefits to your people. Indeed, Irish exporters have contributed to, and benefited from, your economic development. There is now a significant level of trade in chemicals, pharmaceuticals and electronic components between our two countries. We are hopeful that continued economic expansion will result in closer partnerships, particularly in the software and ICT sectors.
Our increasingly globalised and integrated world will undoubtedly draw Chile and Ireland closer together as suppliers, customers and, we hope, as partners in third countries.
Mr President, I am very conscious that you share our view that economic development should be accompanied by social cohesion. I am also keenly aware of your Government's strong commitment to education as the key to the development both of the individual and of society as a whole. That certainly has been our experience in this country. As Minister for Education in the early 1990s you took many valuable initiatives in order to bring the benefits of education to the least advantaged members of society; and as Head of Government you have continued to demonstrate that special vocation to enhance equality of access to educational opportunity for all.
We wish you well in your ongoing endeavours to amend the last remaining constitutional reminders of an earlier very painful period.
As you well know, Mr President, Ireland’s membership of the European Union has been a vital feature of our economic and political life over the last thirty years and we are determined that the process of absorbing new members will not have the effect in any way of turning the Union inwards, but instead will in fact further extend our outward-looking horizons so as to stimulate and foster the Union's constantly developing relations with other regions. Ireland, for example, particularly looks forward during our EU Presidency next year to leading the enlarged EU delegation of twenty-five member States at the Third Summit between the European Union and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean which will take place in Mexico in May.
We also very much look forward, Mr President, to witnessing the unfolding, over the coming years, of the full potential of the increasingly close bilateral relationship between Chile and Ireland. Last October, I was pleased to accept the credentials of Chile's first resident Ambassador in Dublin, Mr Alberto Yoacham, who has quickly proved himself to be a dynamic and creative representative of your remarkable country.
I wish to thank you, Mr President, for making this historic visit to Ireland, a visit which marks a fresh chapter in the relations between our two countries; relations which are not merely formal or diplomatic, but which have their deep origins in a past time when both Chile and Ireland were still yearning for their freedom; relations which are now being renewed to meet the future challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century.
It is, therefore, a great honour and a great pleasure to propose a toast to President and Mrs Lagos and the People of Chile.