Mary Robinson

“ But we have reason to know in Ireland how powerful symbols are; that they carry the force of what they symbolise. Joyce's words remind us — that light reminds us — that the community of Irish interest and talent and memory extends far beyond our boundaries, far beyond Europe's boundaries. ”

“ It is vital that we consider it: that we bring to it all the Irish gifts of insight and argument. We need to reflect not simply on how we perceive and move towards European Union but on how we perceive ourselves in it. We need to reflect not merely on the shape of the emerging Europe, but on how we shape ourselves within it. ”

“ We bring with us also our wealth of expression in the English language. I find it poignant that in a private letter Maria Edgeworth once lamented the bitterness of Irish life. "It is impossible to draw Ireland as she now is in a book of fiction" she wrote, "realities are too strong and party passions too violent". And like so many other citizens of this country, I am grateful that this did not deter our writers in the end. In novels, short stories, poems and plays, they have added immeasurably to the self-realisation of the Irish people. ”

“ Through you, who are representatives of all the people, I speak of them also. I feel for the conscience and concern they brought to their decision. I know, as you do, that the dissent of one time is the dialogue of another. All of us today in Ireland — those who voted "Yes" and those who voted "No" — now face the future. And it is that prospect, both bright and challenging, which I want to speak about.
Under the Constitution the President can exercise a right of address. It can be exercised in two ways. Either the President can speak to the nation, or to the Oireachtas. ”

“ We also have a business community whose enterprise and improvisation has been crucial on the eve of the opening of the Single European Market. And how exciting that we are beginning to talk about an economic corridor between North and South, where promotions and industrial commitments can draw on common resources: where industry becomes part of understanding.
But in this matter, as in every other one to do with Europe, our attitude is vital. We need to realise we will not be subsumed by Europe; we will not be diminished by a wider theatre of action. ”

“ In fact it is our writers, our artists, our composers and our craftsmen and craftswomen who have been at the heart of the Irish identity — often before any of the rest of us. Even as I speak, a new generation is continuing to do this in a new golden age for all kinds of Irish creativity which I have referred to with pride on my visits abroad. Because of them we bring to Europe the important argument that a community and a nation need not be a smooth or acceptable continuum. ”

“ I believe if they could see us — a sovereign democratic State reflecting on our place in a community of European nations, they would be satisfied. It is right, by way of honouring their memory, that we remember James Connolly's question today. Who we are as Irish people is about to be challenged and confirmed by new circumstances. I believe we are ready. Nevertheless it seems important that we continue to reflect on that challenge with a sense of what we bring to Europe, rather than what we lose by being part of it; that we assert our future in terms of the best values of our past ”

“ I think we have a special characteristic of life in this country which is both an outcome of history and remains a profound resource of life in Ireland. If I had to describe this characteristic I would say that we do not divide the purposes of our nation from the values of our community. And this is nowhere more evident than in the powerful continuum of voluntary effort which is so much part of the texture of Irish life. ”

“ If identity was rooted only in language, if it was rooted only in history, if it was defined purely by a version of events, then perhaps we might have cause for concern. And if the Irish experience were a matter of abstract belief we might have something to fear. But our identity is all these things with one addition. That addition is the Irish people and so our abstractions have a human dimension. Rooted in that source, I do not think we have anything to fear from the larger context. ”

“ Just as they have made us understand here in Ireland the needs of developing countries, now they continue that process in a wider context. The relation between a powerful community of nations and an afflicted and struggling part of our world can never be easy and will falter if such communicative skills and imaginative sympathies are missing.
I think it helps to realise that the influence of Europe works in both directions. The reality of modern Ireland is that there is, at this moment, a young and well-trained Irish workforce in European capitals. ”

“ Now we need to persuade our young Irish people that a language also is a part of our environment, is a living thing, subject to stresses and neglect, likely to be mourned if it becomes extinct and entitled — I believe — to the same excited sense of care and protection.
In this context — of the Irish language and Europe — it seems to me particularly appropriate to quote one of my predecessors, Douglas Hyde: "The Ireland of today" he said, "is the descendant of the Ireland of the 7th century, then the school of Europe and the torch of learning." ”

“ Our receptiveness to change is a mark of our confidence as a modern State. There are changes all around us today which are an enrichment of our national life and which are going to serve us well as we take them into the fast-changing European environment. There has been, for instance, a radical change in the role and status of women. Because of legislative and economic advances women now play a greater part in the structures which sustain the community. ”

“ From the poets of Slieve Luachra in Kerry in the 18th century to those like Edward Bunting in the North of Ireland in the 19th, the language has had powerful friends and unpredictable ones. Now we must look for those friends in this generation. After all, the new environmental movement has caught the imaginations of young people everywhere. Their sense of the vulnerability of this planet has moved and persuaded us all. ”

“ The dreams and insights we foster on these shores, the images of landscape which enter into people's hearts, and the friendships and family ties, are carried forever beyond them. Through this absent community, our national constituency and culture are present in wider ones. ”

“ The witness of love and compassion given by our priests and nuns, our doctors, nurses, teachers and other voluntary workers of all denominations, and by all those who commit their energies unselfishly to working for a more equal world, is something we can be proud of. At a practical level, their expertise provides a necessary lifeline of communications and understanding. Through their organisation, they already have a working relationship with other such agencies in Europe. ”

“ It is to them, to their obstinate sense of their art, that we owe a wider concept of Irishness. They persuaded us, through the beauty and force of their expression — often controversially received — that nationality is something which admits of the rebellious affections of a James Joyce, of the dual-language lyricism of Samuel Beckett, and the anarchic intelligence of a Myles na gCopaleen, that it encompasses the subversions of our artists as well as the steadfastness of our patriots. ”

“ An open debate which takes as its fundamental point our history as a small country with a tradition of neutrality and an instinctive sympathy for the Third World, and which takes into account the changing context in Europe, our growing commitment to our partners and our distinguished record of service in UN peace keeping, cannot but be valued and valuable. ”

“ The Irish legal system, has responded well to the significance of Community law as an integrating force. Indeed we have a strength in our legal system that we should not underestimate. Alone among the twelve Member States we combine a common law tradition with a written Constitution. ”

“ In the ratio of our size to our resources, the contribution of Irish voluntary organisations and individuals to developing countries has been outstanding. Working often in difficult conditions, under considerable stresses, Irish individuals, and the organisations they represent, have provided friendship and a voice for many defenceless people. I want to pay tribute to them today. ”

“ They are a factor in the balance between the centre and the margins, between the individual and the bureaucracy, I do not think it is any coincidence that Irish men and women hold key positions in vital European voluntary networks: the Transnational European Rural Network, the European Women's Lobby, the European Council of Aids Service Organisations, the European Anti-Poverty Network, the European Network for the Unemployed and the variety of European networks representing those of all our populations with disabilities. ”

“ Buildings are being restored, plant life is being recorded, historic events are being dramatised for schoolchildren. And all of this has implications not just for our past heritage, but for our most important heritage-in-the-making: our young people. ”

“ They themselves are just part of a wider traffic of young people to and from the Continent: students at primary and secondary level; at third level through the Erasmus scheme. They go there in the care of teachers who have a generous appreciation of what that traffic will mean for all our futures. Through them, through the new emphasis on languages, our students are now part of a Europe they can lay claim to as well as visit. ”

“ I would also want to mention here the International Fund for Ireland which has become a sustaining presence in Border areas. In these interdependences, as they come into play in projects which have enormous meaning for our regional and national life, we see an imaginative interaction of resources and human commitment. ”

“ They come from oppositions and traditional sources of misunderstanding. They also come from the profound inhumanity of protracted violence. I know the violence in Northern Ireland grieves every one of you as elected representatives, just as it grieves me. ”

“ Our honest reflection on this matter which is central to our concerns can be of importance not just to us but to those who might be applicants, potential applicants or those who are neighbours of the Community. We have to remember that this is not a static Community we are members of; it is also one we shape and define by our participation. ”

“ I have observed, and stated on other occasions, and I will state it again tomorrow at the opening of the Global Summit on Women, that as they take more of a part in our national life women are actually changing the institutions and occasions they participate in. ”

“ They bring to their various commitments — and they are a great part of the voluntary effort I spoke of — an exemplary relation between the individual and the group. They are often open, consultative and progressive in institutions which especially benefit by such attitudes. ”