REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE AT LUNCH HOSTED BY HERB GRAY, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE AT LUNCH HOSTED BY HERB GRAY, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER TORONTO, TUESDAY 6 OCTOBER
It is a great pleasure for me to join you today as part of my State visit to Canada. Irish people have been part of the story of Canada, and of Ontario, from the beginning. Substantial Irish settlement in Ontario began shortly after 1800, in the Ottawa Valley, in areas such as Peterborough, and above all of course here in Toronto. In your last census over 3 ½ million Canadians claimed Irish descent. By far the largest number of them were here in Ontario, and the largest Irish community to be found in Canada is here in Toronto. Most of them are descendants of earlier Irish settlers, but Canada has never ceased to attract new Irish immigrants, who see this as a land in which they can build a future.
The Irish in Canada are active, engaged and loyal citizens of their country here, but they retain a keen interest in and awareness of their Irish heritage, and of events in their homeland. Through a myriad of different societies and organizations, the traditions of the Irish language, history and culture, music, dance, drama, and literature, to name but a few, are preserved and passed on to new generations of Irish Canadians.
When they visit Ireland, as very many Canadians do each year, all but the most recently arrived Irish immigrants will find the country they remember has changed greatly in recent years. It is my honour and privilege, on this first State Visit to Canada by a President of Ireland, to represent that new Ireland to the people of Canada.
Ireland has undergone a sustained period of high economic growth for many years now. Rather than just the upswing of a boom and bust cycle, this development represents a very real gearing up of our economy. While much remains to be done, Ireland now possesses a modern, high-tech, developed economy on a par with the rest of Western Europe. This has had a significant and long-term impact on employment levels and living standards for our people. In only ten years, private consumption per capita has gone from 65% of the EU average to 90%.
This growth is also reflected in the strong development of our economic relations with Canada. Both of our economies are now well positioned as the gateway to their respective economic blocs, the EU and NAFTA. A number of major Canadian companies, manufacturing, mining, and financial services, are now located in Ireland, and in recent years Irish investment in this country has also begun to grow.
Perhaps the greatest and seemingly the swiftest change in Ireland has been the transforming of the long standing Northern Ireland question through the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. I say seemingly, because in reality the Agreement is the outcome of a long and intense political process going back many years, and is an object lesson in the value of never giving up, of continuing dialogue in the face of setbacks, and of a determination to succeed. These are qualities which the Irish and British Governments, and the parties participating in the process, have needed very much in recent years, and I pay tribute here to Minister David Andrews, who led our negotiating team in the final year. They are also, I know, very typically Canadian qualities, most recently demonstrated perhaps in Canada’s successful conclusion of the Ottawa Agreement outlawing landmines, which I was very pleased to note has recently entered into force, having been ratified by 40 countries, of whom Ireland was one of the first.
The support of Canada and other friendly nations was critical in achieving the Good Friday Agreement, and is acknowledged and deeply appreciated by the Irish people. In Canada’s case, that support has been most tangibly expressed in Canada’s support for the International Fund for Ireland, and especially by the service of General John de Chastelain and his staff, for which Ireland owes an ever-increasing debt of gratitude, as he continues his efforts on our behalf. As a co-Chairman of the talks which led to the Agreement, he was able as a Canadian to bring to the process the reputation for fairness, commitment to peace, equality and respect for traditions which Canada has earned since the time of Lester Pearson and indeed earlier.
As well as direct support, the moral support of governments and peoples around the world, of which people in Ireland are keenly aware, has been essential in reinforcing the willingness of the participants to reach an Agreement, and in demonstrating that those who reject the way forward which the Agreement offers will get no support anywhere. This moral backing was never so evident as in the reaction to the terrible bombing in Omagh in August, which I believe and pray may be a dying kick of a virus of politically inspired violence which is now at last being expelled from the Irish body politic.
The support of Canada for the peace process in Ireland is only the greatest example of a strong and friendly bilateral relationship between Ireland and Canada in many spheres. Ireland and Canada share an outlook on the importance of international law and the maintenance of the United Nations system, and on the importance of constructive reform of the U.N. to enable it to meet the challenges of the 21st century. We famously share a commitment to peacekeeping, and our troops have stood together in many, many operations around the world. Ireland was a vigorous supporter of the Ottawa Process which led to the landmines Agreement.
Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, since the early days of Ireland’s independence when Ireland and Canada cooperated in expanding the boundaries of Dominion status, our two countries have enjoyed close and mutually beneficial relations. Ireland places great importance on the maintenance of that close relationship. Under Ireland’s last Presidency of the European Union in 1996, we saw as one of our priorities, and achieved, the successful conclusion of an EU-Canada partnership agreement, which will govern and develop Canada’s relations with the EU into the next century.
I look forward very much to that relationship, between both our countries and our peoples, continuing to prosper and grow in the years ahead.
Thank you.