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THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE ART EXHIBITION OF AN ROINN BHEALOIDEAS ÉIREANN

SPEAKING NOTES FOR THE PRESIDENT, MARY ROBINSON, ON 11 NOVEMBER, 1993

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

-    It gives me great pleasure to be here with you this evening for the opening of your pictorial exhibition.  Tonight in this magnificent setting we are being afforded an opportunity to gain fresh insights into one of the nation's greatest treasures, that is the folklore collections of UCD's Department of Irish Folklore.

 

-    The works of art which have been assembled here tonight represent a lesser known element of the largely oral folklore collection.  These pictures are a valuable guide helping us to visualise with greater clarity the stories, customs and places described in the collection proper.  In addition, they are works of art in themselves and are to be greatly enjoyed on that basis.  I would like to thank the First National Building Society for the generous sponsorship which has made this exhibition possible.  This increasing co-operation between the cultural and business sectors of our national life is something I very much welcome, bringing as it does enormous benefits to all.

 

-    While I would not like to single out any one picture for special mention I was very struck by Daniel McDonald's painting "The Discovery of the Potato Blight in Ireland", which gives a chilling insight to the despair and devastation caused by this seminal event in our history.  But in addition to the paintings intrinsic merit there is its provenance.  It was presented to the Irish Folklore Commission by Mrs. Woodham-Smith in gratitude for the help she received as she researched her masterpiece "The Great Hunger".  This gift is eloquent testimony to the crucial role of the folk tradition in our attempts to come to a true understanding of our past in all its complexity and diversity.  The subjective nature of folklore does not lie in opposition to the more analytical demands of historians, rather it complements and enlightens their work.  To me this gift underlines two aspects of those charged with the care of our folklore tradition.  The help and encouragement they give those interested in the subject and the relevance of the material they preserve.  For a nation's folklore tradition is much more than a collection of myths and fables.  Rather it is a record of how a people came to terms with their environment, with their history and with their everyday experiences.

 

-    A journey into that store of experience very quickly becomes less one of empathy with a people long gone and more a journey of self-recognition and self-discovery.  For just as the individual inherits physical and emotional characteristics from their family, so too does a nation inherit attitudes, beliefs and prejudices from preceding generations.  This can be a very positive thing.  For instance, it has been said that the generous response of Irish people to famine disasters in Africa stems from our own collective memory of famine.  We identify with those suffering because in a sense each one of us is also a victim of famine.  One of the more important aspects of your work is that you have been attempting to preserve a part of our past that of its nature would have died on the wind.  In doing so you have ensured that the history of the dispossessed is available to us.  In presenting this more comprehensive and inclusive view of our history you provide us with the material we need to come to terms with inherited myths and prejudices and leave us free to seek relevant solutions to today's problems.

 

-    The story of the Irish Folklore Collection is one of dedicated men and women fired with a vision and a sensitivity to the work they did.  They mined a rich seam, drawing from the story of a vibrant people possessed of a rich culture and imagination.  This exhibition is dedicated to one of these people, Seán Ö Suilleabháin, who this month celebrates his 90th birthday.  To his colleagues he is already a legend combining the discipline of the scholar with an ever fresh enthusiasm for his subject.  He has enriched the present with his understanding of our past and is deserving of the highest accolade that one Irishman can give another.  I am happy to take this opportunity to thank you on behalf of the Irish people for the service you have rendered them and I take great pleasure in formally declaring open this fitting tribute.