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Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Celia Larkin, John Anderson the Deputy Prime
Minister, Kim Beazley, Leader of the Opposition, my ministerial and parliamentary
colleagues, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
I recall during the last federal election campaign that the guns of political
battle were put aside and the campaign suspended for a very distinguished
visitor to Canberra the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. And I observed
to her at the time that only the President of Ireland could suspend an
Australian election campaign and live to tell the tale. But, of course,
as something of the character and the verve of Australian politics has
been influenced, I suspect, by that great tributary to Australian culture
that the Irish represent that any acquaintance with the President of Ireland
during an election campaign appears very natural indeed.
Bertie Ahern, you are so welcome here tonight. It is the easiest thing
in the world for an Australian Prime Minister to welcome to our country
the leader of Ireland. It is inaccurate to say that the Irish have made
a great contribution to Australia. The truth is that the Australian identity
is inextricably Irish to a very large extent. The influence of Ireland,
the influence of Irish culture and the influence of Irish ways, the influence
of the character of Irish people has been with us from the time of European
settlement in this country.
And the story of Australia of the last 200 odd years described, I think,
very well by Patrick O'Farrell in his landmark study of the impact
of the Irish on Australia when he spoke of how it was in many respects
a struggle between the English majority and the Irish minority but a struggle
which despite its elements of great discord and its elements of discrimination
and so forth and things that all of us have thankfully put years and years
behind us, it was nonetheless a struggle that in its outworking was extremely
productive. Because in many ways it represented a debate about the kind
of nation we wanted to build and the kind of society we wanted to create.
You have come to us, Taoiseach, having visited your forces in East Timor.
And I want to thank you and your country and your Government very warmly
for the support you gave to the Interfet force. East Timor is a long way
from Ireland and we like to think that in part your contribution was a
demonstration of the affectionate bonds that exist between your country
and ours. But importantly, it illustrated the common values that we hold
and the common commitment we have to the cause of justice and fair dealing
between people.
I have spoken a few moments about the historic and the sentimental character
of the relationship between Australia and the Republic of Ireland. Perhaps
before I conclude I might briefly return to that aspect of the relationship.
But the relationship today is very much, of course, also the relationship
between two modern industrialised nations. Ireland has enjoyed remarkable
economic progress over the last 10 to 20 years. You have achieved significant
reductions in your unemployment levels. You have embarked upon, as you
described to me this morning, very courageous taxation reform, something
that always draws a bit of interest and an interjection from the Treasurer.
But what we have witnessed in Ireland over the last decade and a half
has been very much the transformation of your economy.
You have reversed the decades-long exodus of your young people and many
Irish leaders today rejoice in the return of so many of the young people
of their homeland to the Republic of Ireland. You are an active member
and I think a very productive member of the European Union. Of course
the Australian Government from time to time has the odd difference of
opinion with the European Union regarding matters relating to trade and
I think both of us reminded ourselves in our discussions this morning
of the tremendous importance of trade and the tremendous importance of
breathing new life into the cause of greater liberalisation of world trade.
All of us have watched, Taoiseach, the steps towards achieving a lasting
peace in Northern Ireland. I think all Australians look to the day when
the bitterest of opponents in the Northern Ireland dispute are perpetually
sidelined and the decent men and women of both sides of that long divide
dominate the political processes of Northern Ireland. And I think particularly
of men of the ilk of John Hume and David Trimble, the joint winners of
the Nobel Peace prize. Because the tragedy of the long years of death
and destruction in Northern Ireland I know weighs very heavily upon both
the British and the Irish governments and I want to pay tribute to the
efforts of successive Irish leaders as well as the efforts of successive
prime ministers of the United Kingdom to try and bring about an honourable
settlement. The setback recently is of course a disappointment. As I said
at the press conference this morning our view, and I know it is very much
the view of the Irish Government, is that adherence to the principles
of the Good Friday agreement constitutes the proper basis of achieving
a lasting peace in Northern Ireland.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a very happy occasion tonight. It's
an occasion when all of us feel very much at ease with our heritage, very
much at ease with the history of relations between Australia and the Republic
of Ireland. I suppose Australia is in many respects the most spectacular
component of the Irish diaspora. Something in the order of 35 per cent
of Australians trace their heritage in some way or another to different
parts of Ireland. And I, of course, am no exception. My maternal great
grandmother was born in Westmeath in what is now the Republic of Ireland
and my paternal great grandfather just to even it up was born in Portadown
in County Armagh in the North of Ireland. And it is not, of course, in
any way unusual to the experience of Australians to count that Irish heritage
as a very important part of the make up of this country.
Ireland and the Irish have played an incredibly important role in the
development of the spirit and the character of this country. To the Irish
influence we owe much of the larrikin element of our temperament which
we hold so dear. Our capacity to relate in an open warm hearted fashion
with each other has also been greatly conditioned by our Irish heritage.
One of the, I think, great achievements of the building of the Australian
nation is that we have in so many ways been able to take from the different
parts of our heritage those things which are positive and those things
which we wish to preserve for the future while rejecting those elements
of our heritage that are negative and counterproductive. And so it has
been that while we have retained much of the instinct for, I think, civil
processes in our Government despite our robust political system, and the
great inheritance of the rule of law from the United Kingdom we have rejected
the class consciousness of so much of Europe. And so it has been in relation
to our Irish heritage. We have taken so many of the wonderful, open warm-hearted
bits of it and we have moulded them in the Australian environment and
in the process it has made a massive contribution to the building of what
we all know to be the modern Australian nation and what we all know to
be the Australian character and the modern Australian man or woman.
Can I say to you, Bertie, and to Celia, I hope you have a very pleasant
time in Australia. I know that you have met many of your fellow countrymen
and women. I know that you have been received very warmly. And can I say
on behalf of all of my parliamentary colleagues and all of those gathered
here this evening that it will always be a very special occasion to have
the leader of the Irish people amongst us. We will always be ready to
acknowledge the bonds between our two countries, we'll always be
ready to acknowledge the debt we owe to the Irish heritage in Australia.
And I invite in that spirit the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Beazley,
to second my remarks.
[ends]