REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE, AT A RECEPTION IN THE BALMORAL HOTEL, EDINBURGH
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE, AT A RECEPTION IN THE BALMORAL HOTEL, EDINBURGH TUESDAY, 7 NOVEMBER, 2006
Dia dhíbh, a cháirde go léir. Tá mé iontach sásta bheith anseo libh inniu.
I am delighted to be in Edinburgh to mark the 17th Scottish International Storytelling Festival and the first ever held on Ireland-Scotland storytelling, along with the first Scottish-Irish Film Festival, Reel 2006.
Martin and I thank you for that very warm and familiar welcome for we are long-time and regular visitors to Scotland and, whether in Skye or Aberdeen or Glasgow or Edinburgh, we never have far to go before the profound links between Ireland and Scotland reveal themselves. I thank both our Ambassador, Daithi O’Ceallaigh and our Consul General Cliona Manahan for hosting this afternoon’s reception and for this opportunity to meet so many of the people whose work is re-energising that ancient art-form of storytelling or shaping the modern art-form of film.
The Irish and the Scots, close neighbours and kin to one another over centuries, have been described with some truth as ‘intimate strangers’. The web of historic connections which holds us so close to one another is not always well-known or well-understood. It is full of surprises and stories which well repay the telling and we are grateful to those whose idea it was to reveal that masked and hidden landscape through storytelling and through film. Each layer peeled away helps us to understand ourselves and each other more insightfully. It helps us to understand our world too for the narratives of Ireland and Scotland are woven tightly into the record of the United States, Canada, Australia and England. They are complex narratives that have suffered from being overlooked or ransacked for material with which to build barriers rather than bridges. Today we look at each other afresh. We recognise in each other a strong core of common values: a love of life, of debate, of humour; a culture of respect and hospitality to the stranger; a memory of poverty that feeds our compassion; a love of poetry, music and dance; a passion for nature, for the mountains and the sea and beautiful wild landscapes. We both believe that, in the words of the Orkney poet George Mackay Brown, ‘without the story connecting the living, the dead and the unborn, we are mere scraps of paper blowing in a cold wind’.
So this festival is about connections, some buried deep and some that the festival itself will create. I only wish that we’d been here in time to enjoy all that has been on offer but I am very sure that with your help the 21st century will see a flourishing kinship between the Irish and the Scots with the arts strongly implicated in its development. Already the shared focus between the 35 Scottish and Irish storytellers assembled here and the young Scottish and Irish filmmakers has shown huge potential for for future collaborations and exchanges. I know that the 2007 Ireland-Scotland REEL Festival will get a big welcome in Ireland and it is great to hear that the Screen Academy Scotland, which represents Napier University and Edinburgh College of Art, is taking forward a first ever programme of exchanges designed to foster co-production projects with the National Film School of Ireland (IADT). That is very good news and a clear vindication of the success of this event.
This reception also gives me a chance to meet some of the people who work on behalf of the Irish here in Scotland. Your work embraces a spectrum of care from cultural and sporting to charitable support like St. Catherine’s Homeless Project here in Edinburgh and The Wayside Day Centre in Glasgow. We are very conscious that life has been difficult for some of those who took the emigrant boat from Ireland in the past and it is important that today’s confident and successful Ireland remembers them in real and practical ways. We also know how much Irish culture means to all the Irish who live far from home and how much they appreciate having the opportunity to enjoy our vibrant music, dance and sport. A lot of that work is done by voluntary organisations with some help from the Irish Government’s Dion fund and it is good to have this opportunity through you to say thank you to all the volunteers and fundraisers who bring so much joy, fun and hope into people’s lives.
Looking to the future, developments in both our countries signal that the time is now right for us to get to know each other better. Three developments - the conclusion of the Good Friday Agreement, devolution in Scotland and the transformation of the Irish economy have created a very encouraging context in which to put our relations into a new gear. Just last month, the St. Andrews Agreement concluded here in Scotland between the Irish and British Governments, opened the way to restoration of the power-sharing institutions and full support for policing and justice in Northern Ireland.
Under the terms of The Good Friday Agreement the British and Irish Governments agreed to develop still further the unique relationship between their peoples as friendly neighbours and partners within the EU. This commitment has offered new scope for Scotland and Ireland to build on longstanding historic affinities but without the shadows of history’s vanities and to create an exciting contemporary partnership for a new era leaving behind the days when British-Irish and Scottish-Irish relations were chronically undermined by tensions over Northern Ireland. Devolution in Scotland has helped to reinforce this important process and already the intensification of Scottish-Irish relations is well underway
The establishment of the Irish Consulate General in Edinburgh in 1998 was a response to the changed status of Scotland as a devolved entity with a stronger political profile. The establishment of the British-Irish Council means that there is now a framework within which Scottish and Irish political leaders can work together, for the first time in our respective histories, in pursuit of common ends. Scottish participation in the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body has enlivened its deliberations and strengthened the network of friendly contacts that connect the different component parts of these islands.
The remarkable transformation of the Irish economy has generated new interest within Scotland on how that transformation came about, stimulating a welcome debate amongst those who know and care for both nations. Last month, the Presiding Officer together with a cross-party delegation came to Ireland, and I heard from them about the level of interest in the Scottish Parliament to co-operate more with Ireland across a plethora of issues of mutual interest and concern.
On Monday next, I look forward to meeting with the First Minister of Scotland Mr. Jack McConnell MSP when he makes his first official visit to Ireland at the invitation of the Taoiseach.
Back in 1999 I attended the launch of the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies in Aberdeen. We were conscious then that we were on the cusp of a remarkable change in our relationship, that we were at the beginning of a transformative process through which we would reflect more fully on our shared past and use the opportunity we have today to build a shared future. The Columba Initiative has reminded us of the extent of our common Gaelic heritage and of the sacred stewardship we have of the beautiful Gaelic language and culture that we share. The developing focus on the Ulster-Scots tradition is also helping us to understand the many intricacies of the web that binds Ireland and Scotland.
But the future is the place of most interest for us because that is where we will prove the worth of this generation of Irish and Scottish men and women. No generation before now has had such a ring of confidence about it. None has had the education, the opportunity or the freedom that characterises 21st century Ireland and Scotland. None has had the coherent structures we have within which to develop our relationship and reveal its fullest potential. Everything I have seen and heard on this visit tells me that Ireland and Scotland are up for the challenge.
Thank you again for your very warm welcome today. May you be ever-curious about Ireland and Scotland and committed to seeing how far that curiosity can take us.
Go n-éirí go geal libh ‘s go raibh maith agaibh.