Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-19-Speech-3-142"
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"en.20031119.15.3-142"2
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"Colleagues, this is a special day for me, as an Irish European. I would like to alert colleagues to put on their headphones and permit me briefly to speak in our ancient Irish tongue.
President McAleese, for me as an Irish European, it is an enormous pleasure to invite you to address the House.
A Uachtaráin, is mór an pléisiúr agus an onóir é fáilte a chur roimh Mháire Mhic Ghiolla Íosa, an chéad Uachtarán ar Éirinn as Cúige Ársa Uladh. De réir pobalbhreitheanna a rinneadh le déanaí, is í an phearsa pholaitiúil is measúla í i bPoblacht nahÉireann. A Uachtaráin Mhic Ghiolla Íosa, cuirimid céad míle fáilte romhat chuig Parlaimint na hEorpa.
Madam President, six years ago you were elected the eighth President of the Republic of Ireland. Your election was the ultimate symbol of the healing and reconciliation that was taking place between divided communities on our island. The theme of your Presidency, 'building bridges' between traditions, cultures, communities and, most of all, between people, was not an abstract theme. In the course of the past six years you, through your work and dedication, have demonstrated the benefits of bridge-building, partnership and connection.
It is this ability to connect that has served Ireland so well. 30 years ago we, as Irish people, began our journey from the edge to the heart of Europe. We left behind isolation and stagnation to embrace openness and connection as the foundation of our modern prosperity. This transition afforded opportunity to a new generation of Irish people that previously was only available to our substantial emigrant community.
I hope, President, you will not object if I quote to you part of a speech that you made in the United States in May 2003 - words which sum up very well the positives of Ireland's European experience: 'the little impoverished island off the west coast of Europe, which became an unremarkable member of the European Union thirty years ago, has become the symbol of the Union’s potential, the place with the economic success story that everywhere else wants to imitate. The country that up to 35 years ago offered the liberating key of education only to a small elite has felt the surging energy of its greatest natural resource - the genius of its own people - empowered through widened access to education.'
You went on to say 'the country that has known outward migration for 150 years has suddenly become a place of net inward migration, coping with the complexities of multiculturalism and the challenge of asylum seekers'.
And so President, just as your Presidency marked a healing in our sometimes divided country, the Irish presidency of the European Union will mark and celebrate the healing of our old European continent. Next year we will be building bridges on a continental scale as we formally welcome our friends from the ten new Member States. We, in the European Parliament, have worked diligently in this process of bridge-building and are proud of our contribution. We are confident that under the leadership of the Irish presidency we will celebrate the fruits of that labour."@en1
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"It is a great pleasure and honour to welcome Mary McAleese, the first Irish President from the ancient province of Ulster. According to recent polls she is the most popular political figure in the Republic of Ireland. President McAleese, you are most welcome to the European Parliament."1
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