Remarks at the Official Opening of Bloom 2012
Phoenix Park, Dublin, 31 May 2012
A Chairde,
I dtús báire, ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil libh as an bhfáilte chroíúil a chur sibh romham ansin. Is cúis mhór áthais dom bheith i bhur dteannta inniu chun an taispeántas breá daite seo a oscailt. My thanks also to Aidan Cotter for his kind invitation to officially open what is now the 6th annual Bloom show here at the Phoenix Park and to become Patron of this wonderful event.
Though sunshine can never be guaranteed, Bloom always promises to delight us with stunning garden and flower displays and invites us to sample some of the most wonderful artisan foods produced in Ireland.
With 27 show-gardens, a floral marquee, food markets and cookery demonstrations, Bloom has become a veritable feast for the senses and a huge success in its relatively short history. As Ireland’s largest garden festival, it is a wonderful experience more than a day out for garden and food enthusiasts alike, for families and for friends, for visitors from other countries and throughout our own island. It is a celebration of contemporary Irish creativity, ingenuity and innovation.
Many of the displays here at Bloom provide creative and interesting suggestions to gardens of differing spaces and circumstances. There are fine examples of what can be achieved with a limited budget or limited space and whether the spaces are small or large new and interesting ideas are demonstrated in the areas of horticulture, ecology and sustainability.
It is wonderful to see that the gardens on show here have been designed and constructed by the very best of Irish designers and landscape gardeners. As a regular visitor to Bloom, I know that these highly creative gardens and plant displays will inspire others to get digging and planting in the months ahead.
I understand that organisations such as Rehab Care, the National Council for the Blind (NCBI), the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland have teamed up with garden designers to create gardens with powerful messages around social and cultural issues.
Well done to Bloom’s youngest ever designer Miah Ní Nualláin, age 10, who has designed a pet-friendly garden where all plants, trees and flowers are non-toxic to cats and dogs.
The NCBI Sensory Garden is another example of a wonderfully creative garden that uses plants, planting and cascading water to encourage a multi-sensory awakening. This garden can be enjoyed by everyone, but its design focuses on helping those who are visually impaired to have a stimulating and enjoyable garden experience through use of touch, colour, sound and taste.
The show-gardens at Bloom highlight the inclusiveness and therapeutic potential of gardening and I hope that they will encourage every one of all ages and ability to simply have a go.
Bloom also serves as an opportunity to bring together producers involved in nursery stock production, landscape/garden design and construction and those involved in the retail of plants and related products and services. This helps to foster greater co-operation in promoting Irish grown plants leading to what may be increased consumer spending on plants and services. In turn, I hope that this will lead to a consequent boost to the economies of small villages and towns spread throughout the country.
We are of course very fortunate in Ireland with our many magnificent natural and man-made parks and heritage gardens. The location of Bloom within the Phoenix Park and incorporating the recently restored Ashtown Walled Garden, gives us a sense of the ideal. The garden with its formal box parterre, lavender hedges, double row herbaceous border, fruit and vegetable section, provides an opportunity for us all to reflect on the vital link between environment and people and will hopefully inspire us to take positive steps to maintain, conserve and restore our beautiful landscapes and environment.
Ireland is recognised for producing some of the best food and beverages in the world. The quality and excellence of our food is being appreciated by more and more countries. You may be aware of the recent major export missions to China where over 50 companies participated. This is all good news.
The joining of food and garden activities, firms and display gives Bloom a unique advantage in Europe’s largest urban park.
To provide visitors with the best possible food experience, Bloom 2012 hosts “Bord Bia’s Food Village” where we are treated to a wonderful array of fruits, vegetables and artisan foods. A full programme of cookery demonstrations by well-known chefs will complement these displays and they will provide expertise and new ideas on how to use Irish products and make the best of our local ingredients. Our own Irish chefs have become famous enhancing our reputation again and again and at a world-wide level.
All of what you will see at Bloom could not have happened without the dedication and hard work of numerous people and organisations.
First of all, I wish to acknowledge the huge effort by An Bord Bia and the event organizers in bringing the show to fruition. I understand that once a show is finished, work on the following year’s show begins immediately and you can see from the quality and diversity of this year’s event, the huge effort that is involved in bringing all of this together. The support of the Office of Public Works has been invaluable in facilitating the development of a show of this scale by providing 70 acres at the heart of the Phoenix Park. As a privileged resident, I have the pleasure of enjoying the beauty of the Phoenix Park and I hope that the availability of this magnificent site will facilitate a stronger attendance than last year’s impressive 90,000. I offer also my thanks and congratulations to the many exhibitors whose vision, creativity and sheer hard work makes Bloom a uniquely Irish festival of which we can all be proud.
Finally, I wish everyone associated with the show every success and I hope along with the organisers, that the weather will remain nice and sunny and that at the end of this bank holiday week-end, we will be able to say that this was the best ever Bloom.