Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-01-15-Speech-2-027"
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"en.20020115.1.2-027"2
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"I said earlier today when we were all, as candidates, invited to speak for five minutes, that I felt we needed to do more politics in this House. We took that very seriously, which is to say, more politics, yes, but I did not expect that we would have three ballots. You are so enthusiastic for politics at this stage that we will have to see how to build on this for the future. It reminded me, in a certain way, given my provenance as an Irish European, of the shamrock, which has three leaves and which represents so much to us. This time it took three occasions before we had a result.
I should like to share a story with you, which is not classically parliamentary but nonetheless has a connection and meaning for me on this day of all days. It is a story written by one of the celebrated architects of our European integration, Robert Schuman. He once wrote, outside the political domain, that a certain saint of Irish extraction – Saint Columbanus – "is the patron saint of those who seek to construct a united Europe". I do not say in Parliament that it is our function to deal with these saintly matters, nor to intrude in that domain. But I recall the story because in the sixth and early part of the seventh century this abbot, poet, scholar and preacher – not the only Irish one to so do – co-founded western monasticism in early medieval Europe. His remains today lie and are celebrated still in Bobbio in Italy.
One thousand three hundred years ago this early Irish European wrote that he came "from the edge of the world". I come from the western seaboard of Europe, from the edge of our European world, and I have a deep pride about where I come from. Although today I accept and acknowledge that I was not elected for my Irishness, I thank you nonetheless that I can also celebrate that fact and that nationality. You have found at the heart of European democracy the capacity to take someone from one of the smallest groups and smallest states and say that, in contemporary European democracy, there is a place to include all, including those on the geographic or other margins. It is a powerful message that you have given to a Europe about to enlarge. I thank you and salute you for it.
I shall now speak briefly in Irish. Why do I do this? Irish is my native tongue. It is an ancient language from an ancient European country. It is an official but not a working language of the European Union. I do it to underline my conviction that cultural pluralism and cultural diversity are the
of the Europe to which I am committed and which we seek to build."@en1
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