REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR THE LATVIAN COMMUNITY IN IRELAND
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR THE LATVIAN COMMUNITY IN IRELAND HOSTED BY THE LATVIAN AMBASSADOR
Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Lab Dien
Good Afternoon,
Martin and I are very grateful to Ambassador Abelis and his wife Silvija for giving us this opportunity to meet with you all today and through you to convey to all Latvians in Ireland a message of welcome. We thank you Ambassador for your very gracious hospitality to all of us.
Ireland’s Latvian community is part of today’s new Ireland, a fully multicultural and multi-ethnic society, where many tens of thousands of newcomers are welcomed each year. They come in search of opportunity for themselves and for their families and we know how hard it can be to be an emigrant, to be a stranger, for the Irish have so often been in that position themselves in many countries in the world. Those who have come to us from Latvia, come as European brothers and sisters, part of the great adventure in a shared future that is the European Union. The work they do, the lives they live here help our communities and our country to prosper and they deepen and widen our cultural experience.
It is important that we acknowledge that contribution and that is why I am here – to say thank you and to put on record our sincere appreciation for the constructive role being played by the members of the Latvian community in Ireland. We very much hope that the high regard in which we hold the Latvian people has been reflected in the warmth of the welcome you have found here.
Although until recent years the peoples of Ireland and Latvia had relatively little contact, Ireland never recognised the incorporation of Latvia into the USSR. We knew of and admired your struggle for independence and were particularly inspired by the 370 mile human chain from Vilnius through Riga to Tallinn which helped to change history so profoundly. Now at last Latvia has the freedom and the chance to reveal her fullest potential, and her membership of the European Union returns her to her European family. Now Ireland and Latvia have the opportunity to build strong relationships with one another. Ireland is proud to have been host for many years to the distinguished Latvian poet, Astrida Ivaska and now in more recent times between twenty-five and thirty thousand Latvians have joined her bringing along with their legendary skills, the story, the traditions, the heritage and culture of Latvia.
In June 2002 I had the privilege of welcoming President Vike-Freiberga to Ireland. It was a very special occasion, especially for me, as I rarely have the pleasure of welcoming a sister Head of State to Ireland and it was wonderful to greet her in Dublin again on May 1st 2004 when Latvia formally joined the EU.
We have both met on other occasions too and I have been impressed by the ease with which we understand one another. We both belong to countries which lived with difficulty in the shadow of a large and powerful neighbour. We each have strong and enduring national traditions in music and dance. We both treasure our unique national languages and unique cultures. Indeed it was these things which kept our spirit strong during very difficult times. Now those times are behind us and both our countries are anxious to show the world just what they are made of. If Ireland’s experience of emigration is anything to go by, returning migrants will play a vital part in developing Latvia, for their varied and valued skills can greatly benefit a growing economy. So some of you will return and others will stay. Whatever your decision, Ireland and Latvia are both enriched by these new networks which link us to one another as neighbours, colleagues and friends. Unlike so many emigrants of old, there is never any need to be out of touch with one’s homeland today; the internet, e-mail and cheaper air travel have greatly shortened the distance between Dublin and Riga.
The ever closer union between the peoples of Europe, to which the architects of the European Union aspired a half a century ago, is being furthered every day in the towns and villages of Ireland as the Irish and the Latvians mix and mingle not as strangers but as fellow Europeans, part of the same European family. These everyday encounters, and the many benefits they bring, are worth cherishing and celebrating. They are the building blocks of a new future for Ireland, Latvia and Europe.
Whatever the future holds for you, I hope that your experience of today’s Ireland will be a positive one just as I am sure that your opening up to Ireland of Latvian culture is immensely positive for Ireland.
Ambassador, friends, I thank you for everything you do to enrich life in Ireland and I wish you and your families every success and happiness now and in the future.
Thank you.
Pal Dies.