ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY ROBINSON, AT THE DINNER HOSTED BY THE IRELAND FUND, SYDNEY
24 OCTOBER, 1992
It is a very great pleasure to be here this evening, in this wonderful setting, with the supporters of the Australian Ireland Fund. It is especially appropriate that we gather in Sydney the place where, 204 years ago, the saga of the Irish part in the moulding of Australia began. When the First Fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour in January 1788 it contained a significant number of Irish. And for the hundreds of thousands that followed in later years Sydney provided a first look at a daunting new world but one that was replete with opportunities. The story of the Irish in Australia is in many ways the story of the most being made of those opportunities. But it also tells of the qualities they brought to Australia and of the immense contribution they made in so many fields - law, politics, business, education, the caring professions, the churches, the arts - to the shaping of this continent.
The Irish strand running through North American life and history has been known, studied and highlighted for a considerable time. An awareness of the Irish presence in Australia and of its scope and depth has been a more recent development. The Bicentenary and the preparations for it seemed to mark a definitive turning point in this regard. The resulting consciousness of, and justifiable pride in the Irish strand in Australian identity unite the Irish at home with their cousins on this vast continent.
The Australian Ireland Fund takes that shared consciousness as its starting point. The desire to be involved in a practical and helpful way in tackling some of the problems we face in Ireland today is, through the Fund, given a focused expression. The list of projects which have benefitted from grants from the Fund is impressive in its range and each marks a significant contribution to the advancement of the aims of the Fund. The promotion of reconciliation and understanding between the two parts of Ireland is one of those aims.
I have been privileged as President to pay three visits to Northern Ireland this year, to Belfast in early February, to Derry in May and to Derry and Enniskillen in September. On each occasion I have been struck by the amount of cross community co-operation between groups on the ground, and the openness to cross-border contacts - true examples of the Fifth Province!
It is peculiarly appropriate that Australians with Irish connections should want to assist this process. This multi-cultural country, blending not just English and Irish streams but many nationalities and ethnic backgrounds, bears witness to the value of tolerance, consensus and cooperation in such an endeavour. The help extended by the Fund to projects such as the integrated school in Omagh and to holidays together for children from both traditions in Derry is a real contribution at grass-roots level to building a more peaceful Ireland.
Apart from the direct benefit of fund raising, your organisation and its activities here constitute an important element in expanding awareness of the Irish contribution to Australia, and in promoting knowledge here of contemporary Ireland and its concerns. You are uniquely placed to do so, drawing support from so many spheres of Australian life. You have an eminent membership, and indeed a propensity to back winners. I note that the Australian Irishman of the year in 1987, the year the fund was set up in Sydney, was none other than the present Prime Minister of Australia, Paul Keating.
The celebrations of Irishness which the Fund's events represent have the added merit of bringing Irish cultural achievements to a wide audience. There is a great vitality and innovation in the arts in Ireland today and it is wonderful to see that experience shared with the Irish and those of Irish background overseas. What more fitting setting could have been found for Shaun Davey's saga of maritime discovery, the Brendan Voyage, than Sydney Opera House! I was delighted to hear too of the strength of interest shown earlier this year through the large attendance of the Irish Film Festival in Sydney under the Fund's auspices.
I understand that the Garden Party is one of the year's highlights. It is an institution I am familiar with from my alma mater, Trinity College in Dublin, but no doubt the antipodean version benefits from the more stable and predictable climatic conditions.
The Australian Ireland Fund is present and active in Brisbane and Melbourne, cities I look forward to visiting in the course of the coming week. Its activities throughout this continent are growing and I wish that process every success.
The Australian Ireland Fund is of course part of a wider network of near global dimensions and I have had the pleasure of attending functions under Ireland Fund auspices in the United States as well as at home in Ireland. Whether in Australia, America or Europe the basic impulse for the Funds attraction and success is a love of Ireland and a desire to help it grow in peace and prosperity. I congratulate the Australian Ireland Fund for its enthusiastic and vigorous part in that effort and wish you continuing success.