REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE GREAT FAMINE GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE GREAT FAMINE GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE IN CARRICK-ON-SHANNON
Many parts of Ireland were devastated by the Great Famine – many communities were decimated – and deep scars were left that have prevailed to this day. Over the last few years, during the many commemorations of the Great Famine – people have sought ways to recognise the hurt and suffering that was visited on their communities and families. And in places throughout the world, people have been recalling how it was those terrible years in Ireland that lead to their forebears coming to their adopted countries.
Coming to this Garden of Remembrance today – and recalling the terrible suffering that it commemorates – you cannot but be moved with the magnitude of what happened during that time. In dedicating this small part of Carrick-on-Shannon – the Famine Graveyard in the shadow of the former Workhouse – itself a place which featured so much in the Famine – you are in a sense completing the process of grieving, and accept the terrible tragedy that has affected all our lives in one way or another. That process of acceptance allows us to look back and reflect on what happened – to consider the factors that contributed to it – and to recognise that it is now very much a part of our make-up.
It is important too for the global Irish nation that they can come back to places like this – to take comfort in the fact that we recognise why and how they came to be where they are – and that their identity is preserved in the land of their forbears. I know that there is tremendous interest in this Garden in the US – and this is recorded in the plaque erected here by the Leitrim Association of New York in 1994. In a way, this place is probably of greater importance to those in the United States – and in the many other countries throughout the world – where the sons and daughters of Leitrim sought refuge from the torture and torment of the Famine - who survived in other countries - succeeded through hard work and persistence, to a life their forebears could not have dreamed of. This is not only what happened to us and to them - it is what all of us are.
For many generations we have lived and struggled under the shadow of the Famine – and because of that, there had been a tendency to try to excise it from our psyche – to forget the defeats and the disasters that are a reminder of how precarious life is. But we are now a prosperous country – a modern economy - taking our place with the very best in the world in commerce, education, culture and the arts. We have the self-confidence to recognise the hurt and to let it go – yet to realise that by commemorating it in this way, we are not allowing it to overshadow what we do and how we think. We are accepting that history shapes us - that we cannot un-write it – and that it is in fact very much a part of our identity. The Garden gives us a chance to identify with the suffering and the anguish of a past in which men and women, who were our ancestors, did no more than barely survive. It gives us the opportunity to give to their survival, to their suffering and loss, just as much love and respect and honour as we give to any brave action or any other defining moment of our history.
I am aware that a considerable amount of work has been put into this Garden of Remembrance – and that this is a particularly poignant occasion because of the absence of a man who put such a tremendous amount of energy and commitment into seeing it completed – and who worked tirelessly to raise funds in America, his adopted country. Brian McKeon died just a couple of weeks ago as a result of injuries received in a traffic accident. It seems cruel that someone, who had put so much into this project, should not live to see his dream finally come true. I’m sure I speak for everyone here today in sympathising with Brian’s relatives and friends on the loss of a truly great Leitrim man. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
I would like to pay tribute to the Historical Society – and particularly to the members of the sub-committee for the restoration of the graveyard, and what they have achieved. I know that there was some initial clearance of the Graveyard in 1993 – and I would like to give credit to MRD and FÁS who undertook this work with financial assistance from the Department of the Taoiseach – who also funded the building of the Garden of Remembrance with the North Western Health Board. For the Historical Society this represents a major undertaking and a great achievement. I have no doubt that they will be able to build on the success of this project to go on to other areas of historical interest in the years ahead.