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Irish America magazine - Oct/Nov '08 issue: The Legacy of the San Patricios Lives On , Stars of the South, The Legal 100, Roots: The Mighty Mahers, All Hail The Humble Spud! , Music: Still Fiddlin’ Away , The Real Bill , The Battle over Ulysses, Broadway's Irish Colleen
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Taoiseach’s Address to Irish America
 On
his first visit to New York as Taoiseach, Brian Cowen addressed those
gathered to celebrate the Wall Street 50 at the Yacht Club, New York, on
July 17. He showed his appreciation for America and said that as Taoiseach
he would make sure that America’s position in the world is given the respect
it deserves.
Thank you very much indeed for that wonderful welcome. I deeply appreciate
the goodwill that has been extended to me throughout my visit here to New
York, my first official visit outside the country as Taoiseach of Ireland. I
felt it was important to come here for a number of reasons. First of all I
want to thank Niall O’Dowd and all the organizers of this event for the kind
invitation to speak to you this evening.
I think that it’s clear as we face into some uncertain times, turbulence in
financial markets and credit squeeze and all the difficulties and problems
that people are trying to confront, increased commodity prices and oil
prices, there is a sense that we’re moving into a different sort of an era.
And for Ireland today, certainly we are moving into a new era because we
have consolidated progress that we have undoubtedly made. Where are we in
the world in terms of both our relationship with the United States and
indeed with Europe? And what are the prospects, what are the strategies,
what are the ideas that modern Ireland has, to stay at the forefront as a
progressive, democratic society that wants to play its role in the world?
And coming to the United States is always a great source of inspiration for
me. My own family background has been one of great gratitude to this country
for what it has done for my grandmother, for my mother, my uncles, my aunts,
some of whom still live here and carved a life for themselves here.
And that’s something that’s very deep in all Irish people at home. It’s not
a relationship of sentimentality with the United States, there’s a deep
sense of kinship with the United States.
And Ireland’s narrative, the political narrative of Ireland, is changing
very dramatically from a political narrative in the past of grievance and
injustice, a sense of missed opportunity, to now being a country that has
redefined itself in the modern world in which we live and has opened up not
only economically and socially but psychologically as well, a country which,
a nation which was traditionally seen as one of the most dispersed nations
has now in a very short space of time become one of the most diverse nations
in the world, people from many nations coming to our shores now and finding
a livelihood and a living in a far more diverse and pluralist society.
And that level of change has taken place in economic and social terms in the
last two decades, that type of change has had to be allowed for when other
countries have had to take that level of change over maybe a century.
That sort of change has brought its own challenges but it has enabled us I
think to flourish, to gain confidence in our own ability to dictate our own
affairs in a very interdependent world. And the United States of America and
the Irish in America, and the fact that you could come to this country and
be what you wanted to be, is something that has always been a source of
inspiration for the Irish at home.
And it is only in recent times, in the latest political generations, that we
have been able to define ourselves in a paradigm that sees peace and
prosperity co-exist. And a great many people in this country can take a lot
of pride in the very constructive role that they played in bringing about
what has been effectively the transformation of the Irish reality at home.
And on behalf of all those people at home, of all political traditions and
persuasions, north and south, east and west, can I from this platform once
again sincerely congratulate them, and all of those people who ensured that
Irish America helped us overcome the limitations of our own history.
The great challenge in Ireland today therefore in this new place which now
exists for us is how to harness that tremendous font of goodwill, wisdom and
expertise that is represented by the Irish diaspora in the world today. How
do we establish the new networks that are required, the new relationship
that is required to make sure that your sense of participation, your sense
of being Irish, is fully encapsulated as it now must be since we amended
Article Two of our Constitution, which recognizes the Irishness of all of
those people who not only reside at home or vote at home but all those who
are dispersed throughout the world who have a great sense of Irishness and
who remind many of us at home of the importance of what it is to be Irish,
values that we sometimes take for granted at home.
So coming to visit New York particularly and coming to the United States has
always been for me a great sense of replenishment, a great sense that when
we go back home we have things to do, because there’s always a great sense
of possibility here and of course there’s always been a great sense of
achievement here and tonight Brendan McDonagh [CEO HSBC North America] is
being properly lauded for his tremendous career thus far. He is one of very
many in this city and in many other cities throughout America where the
Irish have prospered and have excelled.
And it’s that commitment to excellence that has probably been the greatest
contribution that America has given to modern Ireland. When you look at the
industrial transformation, when you look at the foreign direct investment
strategy that has brought so many of the frontline American industries to
Ireland as a platform for the European market and indeed extended the reach
of Irish exports beyond the traditional hinterland that dictated our trade
patterns in the past, to be a truly global economy now and a place where you
can trade anywhere in the world from Ireland. It is American industry and
American expertise that brought that to Ireland, in the main, and we are
deeply grateful for extending that opportunity to a very flexible and
educated workforce because we knew with the limitations of our resources
that the greatest resource we had and have and will have is our people.
So Irish America for me is an untapped resource still. Despite its huge
contribution we are only at the beginning in my opinion of what can be
achieved between Ireland and America and I say very strongly that Ireland
too must show its friendship in return to the United States.
It can’t forever be a call that we seek concessions and we seek more
favorable treatment or we seek to play on the sentimentality of that link
that’s been there for years and generations. Ireland has to be proactive,
proactive in ensuring that we are seen to be a friend of the USA.
And I think Americans need to know that the new political generation in
Ireland is not only deeply appreciative of what America has done for us thus
far but we know there are things that we can do for America to make sure
that America is better understood, that America’s position in the world is
given the respect that it deserves, and you should be aware that under my
leadership that will be a very important facet of my policy.
So tonight what I want to do is to announce to this audience that there will
be a strategic review of the relationship between Ireland and America under
the leadership of our ambassador to the U.S., Michael Collins. He will
report back to me by the end of this year. He will seek out your ideas, your
views as to how Ireland and America can continue to partner, can continue to
work together, can continue to share the values that have made that kinship
real for this generation as it was in the past.
And I want to say to you as well tonight that under my leadership as
Taoiseach of Ireland, I want to work with everyone in Irish America and
indeed everyone in the American administration, this one and future ones.
And I thank each and every US administration that I have worked with for the
tremendous time and effort and expertise that they provided for us as we
sought to deal with our own what could have been termed “local squabble.”
But that squabble is over and we now have a leadership in all strands of
Irish opinion that is focused on making the Republic a reality, on making
[sure] in the centenary of 2016 that the vision of those who gave us the
opportunity to shape our own destiny, political, economic and social, is
something that we must live up to, that we expand equality of opportunity,
that we ensure just as in America that anyone whatever their talents,
whatever their background has a chance to go to the very top if they are
prepared to work and be disciplined and have an ecosystem, in economic
terms, that enables them to pursue excellence and achieve what they hope to
achieve.
That’s the Ireland we want, and America and Irish America has been a growing
and constant inspiration for all of us at home to seek out that sort of
vision for our own country. And now as we face into whatever the uncertain
future may be, it is the societies that can marry economic efficiency with
environmental sustainability and deal with energy security, which will be
the progressive and successful societies of the future.
We want to work with all of you to make sure Ireland is at the forefront of
that transaction.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.
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