REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE 82ND ANNUAL DINNER OF THE INSURANCE INSTITUTE OF CORK
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE 82ND ANNUAL DINNER OF THE INSURANCE INSTITUTE OF CORK IN MORAN SILVERSPIRNGS HOTEL
A dhaoine uaisle,
Tá áthas orm bheith ar ais i Corcaigh, príomh Cathair Cultúire na hEuropa 2005, agus táim buíoch as an fáilte fíor chaoin a chuir sibh romham agus roimh mo fhear chéile, Máirtín.
Thank you all for your very generous welcome to me here this evening and a very special thanks to Denis Kelleher for his kind invitation to join you for the eighty second annual dinner of the Insurance Institute of Cork.
It is good to be back again so soon in the European Capital of Culture after that magnificent opening ceremony. What a thrilling showcase that was for Cork and for the year ahead. Even the weather bowed to Cork’s organisational superiority though there seems to be some ongoing confusion about whether St. Finbarr or the Child of Prague is entitled to the credit!
It has been such a strange and difficult start to any New Year. We have been overwhelmed by the pitiful widespread suffering and death in South East Asia and the dreadful heartache of the Holohan family and the community of Midleton here in County Cork. No amount of sympathy or empathy can bring the dead back to life but in the phenomenal surge of solidarity and support, of help and kindness that these events have provoked, we see hope for humanity as we feel the power of partnership, of working together and as we witness the awesome power of community.
Cork knows a thing or two about community. This is a city of villages, of intimate webs of family, clan, neighbourhood, parish, club, society, shop, business - all held tight by a value system of mutual care which is quietly at work every day but which goes into top gear when there is a huge challenge to be met. This year is just such a challenge and throughout Ireland there is a deep certainty that Cork is going to create its own inimitable story of sheer triumph.
The Insurance Institute of Cork is a perfect example of doing things locally and doing them well. You are part of a network that is both national and international but a local base, close to your customers, ensures the easy flow of information from consumer to service provider. No doubt you get your fair share of complaints about premiums and those complaints keep the wheels of competition going round and round. It is important, however, to acknowledge the public service undertaken by the Institute in providing the training and education which ensures the best professional formation in the insurance sector. There is considerable public benefit and reassurance in an insurance industry underpinned by the highest professional qualifications and standards. That competence and credibility is particularly important in these days when the industry is expanding and your own Institute is experiencing considerable growth.
Recent events have brought home to all of us very forcefully how fragile our world is but you who work in this industry need few lessons in that. Every day you deal with the aftermath of accidents, illnesses, storms, floods, fires, thefts, and all the unpredictable things which turn a life on its head in seconds. For many, you are the safety net which helps them to get through the mess and rebuild the future. You play a considerable role in underpinning everyday life and an important role in our economy generally. As an industry you have been through bad times but are now benefiting from these good times, though competition throughout the European Union and an increase in regulation will continue to change the landscape - bringing both opportunities and anxieties.
As major employers and with your huge customer base, the state of health and the international competitiveness of this industry is of crucial interest to the Irish people. How this industry adapts to whatever tomorrow brings is largely up to this Institute - in its preparedness, its willingness to absorb change, to generate new ideas and to be ahead of the posse instead of being dragged behind it. You have eighty two years of experience to draw on and indeed the national Institute has a century of leadership to offer and over seven thousand members to feed the debates and generate the ideas that will keep this industry, fresh, relevant, innovative, successful and value for money in the years ahead.
I congratulate you on all that you have achieved these past eight decades and more and in particular in these very heady times when Ireland has left behind her poor and underachieving past. We want that story to keep on growing, to be a lasting legacy to the generations to come, a vindication of the huge sacrifices of past generations. Cork City bore more than its fair share of the brunt of those sacrifices. It is only fair that it should in these better times reveal its fullest genius, its truest potential as European City of Culture 2005. This Institute is part of what has made this city. Take pride in it and in Cork.
Thank you all very much.