REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE UNVEILING OF THE FAMINE MEMORIAL 27 OCTOBER 1998
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE UNVEILING OF THE FAMINE MEMORIAL 27 OCTOBER 1998
Just last week I returned from North America following a State Visit to Canada and a brief stop in Boston. During that visit - and indeed, during my visit last month to Australia and New Zealand - I met with many Irish communities – people who emigrated from Ireland only recently and people who are descended from those who left Ireland generations ago in the flood of Irish emigrants that has departed our shores over the centuries – particularly over the last 150 years since the dark years of the Great Famine.
With a global Irish nation now numbering something in the region of 70 million – there is scarcely a place on earth that does not have an “Irish Community”, however small – people who are proud of their heritage and of their origins in Ireland. Preserving those links is so important to those who have gone – so important in keeping their family and personal identity and in assimilating the new cultures and societies in which they have come to thrive and prosper.
Part of that process of coming to terms with their situation, especially over the last three years, has been the continuing assessment and reassessment of the impact that the Famine has had on Ireland and its people – the profound changes that it brought to Irish society – and the scattering of so many to new worlds and new communities where they have contributed in their own unique ways to the building of economies, democracies and communities wherever they put down roots.
Given the size of this country, it is astonishing how so many people of Irish origin have wielded such influence in politics and commerce – in academia and the professions – and continue to hold dominant and influential positions in their chosen careers. It is interesting too that a common denominator amongst so many is the regard and pride they have for their “Irishness” and the eagerness which they have that their identity be acknowledged and recognised as being a part of their make-up.
Just a couple of Sunday’s ago, I visited Grosse Ile near Quebec City, where I heard how in the Summer of 1847, nearly five and a half thousand Irish people were buried on that tiny quarantine island, having perished in the fever sheds or on the waiting boats that queued to disgorge their human cargoes – people who were fleeing the horrors of a terrible human tragedy only to die before reaching their goal of new life and opportunity in a new world.
I heard too of the countless thousands who succeeded in their mission – who spread across Canada and beyond - and of the many children who were orphaned and adopted by Quebec families – who were allowed to keep their family names so that they could always be aware of their identity. At the cemetery on Grosse Ile, the names of thousands who are buried there are etched onto a glass panel. As you look down the long lists of names of families and family members who perished, you get some idea of the extent of the tragedy – and you get a very real sense of how important it is to have those names recorded for future generations.
This Famine memorial here in Dublin – an imaginative venture by Norma Smurfit – a woman who through her dedication, commitment and sheer hard work, has herself done so much to give hope to so many in Ireland - is an opportunity for people who want to have their links with the Great Famine recognised – to have their family names recorded for posterity here in Dublin – on a quayside that saw so many leave and never to return. It is also an opportunity for them to complete a loop which was started generations ago – when so many were compelled to leave for their very survival - and which today sees an Ireland with new hope and a new self-confidence in a modern Europe – an Ireland where it is possible to have hope that is not based on the emigrant ship – hope that opportunity can be created here in Ireland – where Irish people can look to their own for their future.
In coming here today to unveil the first one hundred family names, I want also to pay a warm tribute to Norma Smurfit – for all that she has done in her work – for the hope that she has given to so many – and for the concern which she has turned into concrete and positive action. I would also like to recognise the significant role of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority in this project – through their provision of the site for the memorial on the Campshire Amenity Area. In contributing the site, the Authority has given a much deserved endorsement to Norma Smurfit and to this Famine Memorial project.
ENDS