Remarks at the Official opening of the Atlantic Challenge Bantry Bay Gig World Championships
Kerry, 21st July 2012
Ladies and Gentlemen
Tá áthas an domhain orm bheith anseo inniu i mBeanntraí chun Craobhchomórtais an Domhain i mBá Bheanntraí a oscailt go hoifigiúil. Ba mhaith liom buíochas speisialta a ghabháil leis an tUasal Mark Wickham as a chuireadh cneasta agus buíochas a ghabháil libhse as an bhfáilte croíúil a chur sibh romham.
[It gives me great pleasure to be here in Bantry this afternoon to open the Bantry Bay Gig World Championships 2012. In particular, I would like to thank Mr. Mark Wickham for the kind invitation to join you, and also all of you for your generous welcome.]
As a nation, we have here in Ireland the sometimes challenging economic or trading difficulties of being an island nation but we also have the immense potential of the sea and what it makes possible. We have a valuable natural resource in terms of inland and off shore waterways of which we should be careful and be very proud. Maritime sport has an ever-increasing high profile in this country and its popularity continues to increase.
At the beginning of this month, we saw the wonderful reception in Galway for the Volvo Ocean Race participants, following their 39,000 kilometre race around the World.
The World Youth Sailing Championship has just completed in Dublin Bay, with many of the most skilful young sailors in the World taking part. And, of course, I have just had the honour of meeting Steve Redmond, who has brought great pride to this country by becoming the first person to swim the seven oceans of the world.
Here today in Bantry we have yet another exciting reminder of the important legacy that is our sporting, social and historical identity.
As we come together here today for the Atlantic Challenge, being held for the first time in sixteen years in Bantry, we are gathered in a town rich in maritime history; a town that spent its earliest days acting as a refuge and place of sanctuary for fishermen and merchant boats.
I know that Bantry remains very proud of that connection to the sea, devoting the beautiful historic church near the old fish palaces to the memory of St Brendan the Navigator, and erecting a statue in his honour here in Wolfe Tone Square. I am aware too of how the mari-culture of mussels has become an important industry in Bantry Bay and Bantry is now establishing a reputation as the home of Irish mussels.
Tourism is, of course, also an important part of modern day Bantry’s economy, with the coastal scenery of the area remaining a magnetic attraction for visitors from Ireland and abroad. There can be no doubt that Bantry remains a town proud of its connection to the sea and determined to maintain and reinforce that important natural link.
That connection with the sea has also secured a special place in Irish history for Bantry Bay as the focal point for the late
18th Century French landing at the instigation of
Theobald Wolfe Tone.
Today we celebrate yet another link with that proud and rich past. The Atlantic Challenge is a hugely popular international event but it is one that is particularly close to the hearts of people here in Bantry. As you all know the Atlantic Challenge Boats are modelled on the Bantry Bay longboat left behind in this town during the ill-fated landing attempt at Bantry Bay by Wolfe Tone and a French armada in 1796.
Today more commonly known as Bantry Bay gigs, these longboats have now been built in countries across the globe making Bantry an image, an icon, and a place synonymous with this famous biennial event.
It may be over two hundred years since that frustrated attempt to re run the French Revolution and Bantry has, of course, evolved into a modern and contemporary town. And, like all other Irish towns, cities, villages and suburbs, this town has had to face significant challenges in recent times. Here, as in the rest of Ireland, the wounds of business closure, collapsing house prices, unemployment and emigration have cut deep. However, time and again since I became President I am struck by the great resilience of the Irish people, by their ability to come together as communities in order to assert themselves as participative and energetic citizens working together towards a better future.
That resilience is reflected in the Atlantic challenge. The challenge is, I recognise, of course a contest of seamanship that tests crews’ abilities to sail. More than that, however, the Atlantic Challenge is also a celebration of comradeship and of working together to achieve a common goal. The contestants in this event must be prepared to work as part of a crew. They must be active participants in the process, prepared to fully utilise their own skills and talents while recognising and respecting the individual contributions of the other members of the crew.
They must have that mix of generosity and humility that will allow them to offer support when it is needed and accept assistance when it is in the interests of the wider group; and at all times they must understand that, if the crew don’t work effectively together, disaster could strike.
When I was inaugurated as President of Ireland I spoke of the importance of working and building together an active, inclusive citizenship; based on participation, equality, respect for all and the flowering of creativity in all its forms. I also defined active citizenship as something which required the will and the opportunity to contribute at every level and in every way – to be the arrow; not the target.
Níl aon amhras agam ach go bhfuil spiorad láidir mhuintir na háite le feiceáil i mBeanntraí inniu. Tá gnéithe den shaorántacht gníomhach agus spiorad láidir an phobail le feiceáil fud fad na háite. Is cúis mhór bhróid dom é seo. Mar sin déanaim comhghairdeas libh go léir as an ról gníomhach agus pearsanta atá ag gach duine anseo i sochaí cruthaitheach, bríomhar Bheanntraí.
[It is evident, here today, that this spirit is alive and well in Bantry, a town imbued with a sense of active citizenship and a deep community spirit. It gives me great pride to see that, and I congratulate you and commend you for taking seriously your role as true citizens who each have a personal role to play in creating and nurturing a vibrant, caring and forward looking society.]
Atlantic Challenge Ireland is an associate member of Atlantic Challenge International and I would like to take this opportunity to commend them for all the hard work and effort they have put in over the years.
I would particularly like to congratulate Diarmuid Murphy, Chairman of the Atlantic Challenge this year, and all the others involved for organising this celebratory event here this week in Bantry.
Finally I would like to welcome all the participants and spectators who have travelled from all parts of Ireland and from all over the world to Bantry. I hope you have been enjoying some of Cork’s famous hospitality and also the beautiful setting for this year’s Atlantic Challenge. The shores of Bantry Bay itself facing southwest with the Beara Peninsula on one side and the Sheep’s Head Peninsula on the other offers a stunning backdrop of breath taking scenery in which to hold this event.
I wish all the participants well this week and I hope all who come to watch this exciting competition will be exhilarated by the sight of these longboats and come to appreciate even more our maritime heritage and sport as we turn our faces with respectand confidence to the sea, its challenges and its possibilities.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh