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Remarks at the ‘Clon’ 400 Anniversary Celebrations

Clonakilty, 5th May 2013

Mayor Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin, Mr John Loughnan who wrote to me last year and members of the Clonakilty 400 Organising Committee Council, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls…

Tá an áthas orm bheith anseo libh inniu ar an ócaid speisialta, ócáid stairiúil seo. Mo bhuíochas daoibh as an cuireadh dom teacht anseo agus an fáilte.

May I thank you Mayor Ó Súileabháin and the people of Clonakilty for that warm and generous West Cork welcome. I am grateful to have this opportunity to share this occasion with you. I am honoured by your presence and welcome as I was to be received by Mayor Ó Súilleabháin and members of Clonakilty Town Council earlier this afternoon.

Congratulations Clonakilty on the 400th anniversary of receiving a Charter as a new Borough from King James the First in 1613. That year has another historical significance we know as in the aftermath of Kinsale and the Flight of the Earls a short few years later, the Parliament that opened in 1613 represented the first time that all of Ireland was brought under the central authority of Parliament.
Boroughs such as this and indeed Bandon which likewise received its charter in the same year became key elements for the governing of Ireland and the beginnings of local government institutions in parts of this island that had previously remained removed from central authority. Of course James the First’s motivation was principally focussed on furthering the Reformation in Ireland which at that time hadn’t really gained a strong foothold. In any event 400 years later we meet today to mark, to celebrate that anniversary.

There are other reasons for celebrations right now in Clonakilty not least among them that, one of your own, Laura Guest was a key member of Ireland’s recent winning Women’s Rugby Grand Slam team. What a wonderful and well-deserved achievement. I had the great pleasure of attending their penultimate match against France in Ashbourne on International Women’s Day. Comhghairdeachas duitse Laura agus arís don foireann go léir.

No visit to this town could be made without reference to a veritable giant of Irish history. Sam’s Cross, Woodfield, Lisavaird Village, Béal Na mBláth and Newcestown Village – these areas resonate with the memory of one man, and it is Kevin Holland’s statue, depicting an oration by Michael Collins, that is a focal point of your town, to the legacy he left to West Cork and indeed this nation as a whole.

Michael Collins’ status is assured wherever people seek to understand the turmoil and tribulations that surrounded the foundation of our State, but the kernel of his legacy has been nurtured within the community in which I now stand.

I am told that a fine replica of Michael Collins’s famous Rolls Royce Armoured Car, “Sliabh Na mBan” in which he travelled on his last journey can be viewed at the nearby Michael Collins Centre. The original has undergone an impressive restoration with the direct involvement of the Defence Forces and is a feature of the museum in the Curragh Camp.

Clonakilty’s link to famous motorised vehicles does not end however with Sliabh Na mBan. Like so many sons and daughters of Ireland, John Ford left Ballinascarthy with his family in 1847 – when Ireland was in the throes of the ‘great famine’ – to start his new life in America, with his grandson, Henry subsequently making motoring affordable to the masses.

I might borrow the words of Henry Ford when he said that

‘Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success’
(The Henry Ford – 2004 Annual Report http://www.thehenryford.org/images/AnnualReport04.pdf (page 2)

a simple philosophy that is embedded in the Clonakilty Community, not just within your locality but with an eye, a responsibility, to further afield.
By becoming Ireland’s first Fairtrade Town, Clonakilty has demonstrated it is an outward looking community with a real sense of social equality, social justice. I applaud you all – local business people and consumers – who have made the conscious decision to stock, serve and buy Fairtrade products wherever and whenever possible. It bears powerful testimony to the old Irish saying ‘ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine’ (we live in each other’s shadow). You have also demonstrated great innovation here locally in devising your own unique response to these recessionary days – the Clonakilty Favour Exchange – trading time and talent in a great community response to the straitened times we live in.

Despite, or indeed because of the current straitened times, we are seeing the most engaged, civic-minded generation emerging in this country in perhaps the last 50 years, citizens who are volunteering in their communities in record numbers.

As part of that great spirit credit is due to your local Tidy Towns Committee for galvanizing local support. Here as throughout our country, dynamic and effective Tidy Town Committees are vital in supporting the efforts of communities, business people, local entrepreneurs, local authorities and innumerable others in improving the living environment for everyone, local and visitor alike.

For everyone involved, I am glad to see that you have reaped reward for your efforts – winning the title of Ireland’s Tidiest Small Town in the 2012 SuperValu Tidy Towns competition. And you can take added pride in that this is not an isolated award, rather a progressive success story built on Clonakilty winning awards both domestically and internationally on an annual basis for more than a decade.

Your achievement is all the more remarkable given the extensive flooding Clonakilty endured last summer when over 200 homes and businesses in the area were devastated. The reaction was one of resilience and determination to get back on your feet, which you did to great effect. The perseverance and strength of purpose that the people of Clonakilty demonstrated was an inspiration to us all as you showed that in times of adversity, the people of this town display generosity of spirit, good neighbourliness and an ability to steel yourselves for the task ahead to ensure the best for the community. Not least among those stalwarts I’m told were your local Civil Defence and Red Cross volunteers, who not only train regularly in their own spare time each week, but turned out last summer in the middle of the night to help their community in its hour of need.

A theme of my Presidency is that of active, inclusive citizenship, based on participation, equality, respect for all and the flowering of creativity in all its forms. And in this regard there are many positive and innovative initiatives underway in Clonakilty.

One such initiative has drawn national acclaim and prompted international interest is the Clonakilty Random Acts of Kindness Festival. I am delighted to see that such an unique and inspirational festival has been acclaimed nationally by the press, commended internationally by the award from the Rural Youth Project travelling trophy and celebrated and enjoyed locally. I believe the Random Acts of Kindness Festival will continue this year in July for which I wish continued success.

I am delighted to hear that following my launch, earlier this year of the Bliain na Gaeilge 2013, the local community in “Clon”, in the form of the recently formed “Clonakilty Dia Dhuiters” meet on a regular basis to ensure that the cúpla focail are preserved and indeed I am also aware that there is a strong emphasis on Gaeilge in the community with over 250 children educated daily through Irish in the local Gaelscoil.

But it is not only recent history that the regional community of Clonakilty endeavours to restore and maintain. Before Model T Fords and Rolls Royce Armoured Cars, a very different, but no less dynamic people inhabited the surrounding countryside. The extraordinary work undertaken at the Lios-na-gCon ringfort in Darrara, gives us insight into how our ancestors lived. The passion and commitment of the local community has allowed us reach back in time to forge a bridge with our own history, and this is a link that should continue to be cherished.

All the examples I have mentioned could not have been completed and indeed maintained on a daily basis without the dedication of the people of Clonakilty and the surrounding area. We are fortunate indeed in this country that we have a deep tradition of investing our own time, dynamism, and vision into the very fabric of both our localities and our nation. It is for this reason that I have such confidence about our future – because community spirit is not the preserve of an age group, a generation or a specific interest group.

Today is a significant milestone for your town and the county of Cork. Such landmarks help celebrate not only the heritage of a small area, but also the shared heritage of the national, and indeed international, community. Events like these, with enthusiastic input from across the community and our important institutions such as our local government system, encourage us to look towards the future, building on foundations of democracy and self-worth, as well as respect for one another.

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghlacadh arís as an gcuireadh a fuair mé le bheith anseo, agus guím gach rath oraibh don ócáid inniu, agus go deimhin do na himeachtaí ar fad a bheith ar siúl agaibh chun “Cloich na Coillte Ceithre Chéad” agus An Tóstal a cheiliúradh.

[I renew my thanks for inviting me to be here and I wish you the very best for today’s event, and indeed for all the events that you will hold in celebrating “Clonakilty 400” and The Gathering.]

Comhghairdeachas libh arís inniu. Gurb fada buan sibh ‘s go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.