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Full speech by Michael D. Higgins to UK Houses of Parliament

"Mr. Speaker, Lord Speaker, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition and d...
Newstalk
Newstalk

16.56 8 Apr 2014


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Full speech by Michael D. Higg...

Full speech by Michael D. Higgins to UK Houses of Parliament

Newstalk
Newstalk

16.56 8 Apr 2014


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"Mr. Speaker, Lord Speaker,

Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister,

Leader of the Opposition and distinguished guests:

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I am delighted to be with you today.

A Chairde:

Tá fíor-chaoin áthas orm bheith anseo libh.

On the first day of this State Visit, I have been graciously and warmly
welcomed by
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle, and I have come to this
place from a poignant and uplifting visit to Westminster Abbey. I am
greatly honoured to be the first President of Ireland to address you in
this distinguished Palace of Westminster.

As a former parliamentarian, honoured to have spent twenty-five years as a
member of Dáil Éireann, and a further decade serving in our Upper House,
Seanad Éireann, it constitutes a very special privilege to be speaking
today in a place that history has made synonymous with the principle of
democratic governance and with respect for a political discourse that is
both inclusive and pluralist.

At the very foundation of British democracy is, of course, the Magna Carta
which includes this powerful statement:

"To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay, right or
justice."

Those beautiful and striking words have echoed down the centuries and
remain the beating heart of the democratic tradition. Their resonance was
felt immediately in Ireland through the Magna Carta Hiberniae - a version
of the original charter reissued by the guardians of the young Henry III in
November 1216.

They are also words which echo with a particular significance when we have
so recently seen the adverse consequences of a discourse that regards
politics, society and the economy as somehow separate, each from the other;
this is a divisive perspective which undermines the essential relationship
between the citizen and the State. Today, as both our countries work to
build sustainable economies and humane and flourishing societies, we would
do well to recall the words of the Magna Carta and its challenge to embrace
a concept of citizenship rooted in the principles of active participation,
justice and freedom.

Such a vision of citizenship is shared by our two peoples. It is here, in
this historic building that, over the centuries, the will of the British
people gradually found its full democratic voice. It is inspiring to stand
in a place where, for more than a century, many hundreds of dedicated
parliamentarians, in their different ways, represented the interests and
aspirations of the Irish people.

Next month marks the centenary of the passing of the Home Rule Act by the
House of Commons - a landmark in our shared history. It was also here that
the votes of Irish nationalist MPs in 1911 were instrumental in the passage
of the Parliament Act, a critical step in the development of your
parliamentary system.

History was also made here in 1918 when the Irish electorate chose the
first woman to be elected to this parliament - Constance Markiewicz - who,
of course, chose not to take her Westminster seat but, rather, to represent
her constituents in our independent parliament, the first Dáil Éireann.
Constance's sister, Eva Gore-Booth, who is buried in Hampstead, had been
making, and would continue to make, her own distinctive contribution to
history - not only in the Irish nationalist struggle, but as part of the
suffragette and labour movements in Britain.

Nearly 90 years earlier, the passage of the Catholic Emancipation Act of
1829 was secured by the leadership of our great Irish parliamentarian,
Daniel O'Connell. O'Connell's nationalism set no border to his concern for
human rights; his advocacy also extended to causes and movements for
justice around the world, including the struggle to end slavery. He was
totally dedicated to seeking freedom, as he put it:

"attained not by the effusion of human blood but by the
constitutional combination of good and wise men."

While O'Connell may not have achieved that ambition during his own
lifetime, it was such an idealism that served to guide and influence, so
many years later, the achievement of the momentous Good Friday Agreement of
1998. That achievement was founded on the cornerstones of equality, justice
and democratic partnership, and was a key milestone on the road to today's
warm, deep and enduring Irish-British friendship.

Our two countries can take immense pride in the progress of the cause of
peace in Northern Ireland. There is of course still a road to be travelled
- the road of a lasting and creative reconciliation - and our two
Governments have a shared responsibility to encourage and support those who
need to complete the journey of making peace permanent and constructive.

Mr Speaker, Lord Speaker:

I stand here at a time when the relationship between our two islands has,
as I have said, achieved a closeness and warmth that once seemed
unachievable. The people of Ireland greatly cherish the political
independence that was secured in 1922 - an independence which was fought
for by my father and many of his generation. The pain and sacrifice
associated with the advent of Irish independence inevitably cast its long
shadow across our relations, causing us, in the words of the Irish MP
Stephen Gwynn, to:

"look at each other with doubtful eyes."

We acknowledge that past but, even more, we wholeheartedly welcome the
considerable achievement of today's reality - the mutual respect,
friendship and cooperation which exists between our two countries. That
benign reality was brought into sharp relief by the historic visit of Queen
Elizabeth to Ireland three years ago. Her Majesty's visit eloquently
expressed how far we have come in understanding and respecting our
differences, and it demonstrated that we could now look at each other
through trusting eyes of mutual respect and shared commitments.

The ties between us are now strong and resolute. Formidable flows of trade
and investment across the Irish Sea confer mutual benefit on our two
countries. In tourism, sport and culture, our people to people connections
have never been as close or abundant.

Generations of Irish emigrants have made their mark on the development of
this country. As someone whose own siblings made their home here, I am very
proud of the large Irish community that is represented in every walk of
life in the United Kingdom. That community is the living heart in the
evolving British-Irish relationship. I greatly cherish how the Irish in
Britain have preserved and nurtured their culture and heritage while, at
the same time, making a distinctive and valued contribution to the
development of modern Britain.

Mr Speaker, Lord Speaker:

As both our islands enter periods of important centenaries we can and must,
reflect on the ethical importance of respecting different, but deeply
interwoven, narratives. Such reflection offers an opportunity to craft a
bright future on the extensive common ground we share and, where we differ
in matters of interpretation, to have respectful empathy for each other's
perspectives.

This year the United Kingdom commemorates the First World War. In Ireland
too, we remember the large number of our countrymen who entered the
battlefields of Europe, never to return home. Amongst those was the Irish
nationalist MP Tom Kettle who wrote that:

"this tragedy of Europe may be and must be the prologue to the two
reconciliations of which all statesmen have dreamed, the
reconciliation of Protestant Ulster with Ireland, and the
reconciliation of Ireland with Great Britain."

It is, I think, significant that Kettle refers to "this tragedy of Europe."
We must always remember that this brutal and tragic war laid the hand of
death on every country in Europe.

Kettle died as an Irish patriot, a British soldier and a true European. He
understood that to be authentically Irish we must also embrace our European
identity. It is an identification we proudly claim today, an identification
we share with the United Kingdom, with whom we have sat around the
negotiating table in Europe for over 40 years. We recognise that it has
been in that European context of mutuality and interdependence that we took
the most significant steps towards each other.

Mr Speaker, Lord Speaker:

I have been struck by the imposing canvases in this room, these depictions
of the Battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo, painted by the Irishman Daniel
Maclise. They call to mind another famous painting by this great artist
that hangs in the National Gallery in Dublin. It depicts the 12th century
marriage of Aoife, daughter of the King of Leinster, to Strongbow, the
leader of the first Anglo-Norman force to arrive in Ireland. Those nuptials
took place in the context of conflict and did not become a harbinger of
harmony. Neither was there to be a marriage of hearts and minds between our
two islands in the following centuries.

Today, however, we have a fresh canvas on which to sketch our shared hopes
and to advance our overlapping ambitions. What we now enjoy between Ireland
and Britain is a friendly, co-operative partnership based on mutual
respect, reciprocal benefit, and deep and indelible personal links that
bind us together in cultural and social terms.

In the final days of his life, the soldier and parliamentarian Tom Kettle
dreamed of a new era of friendship between our two peoples - "Free, we are
free to be your friend" - was how he put it in one of his poems.

The journey of our shared British-Irish relationship towards that freedom
has progressed from the doubting eyes of estrangement to the trusting eyes
of partnership and, in recent years, to the welcoming eyes of friendship.

I am conscious that I am in the company here of many distinguished
parliamentarians who have made their own individual contributions to the
journey we have travelled together. I acknowledge them and I salute them,
as I acknowledge and salute all those who have selflessly worked to build
concord between our peoples. I celebrate our warm friendship and I look
forward with confidence to a future in which that friendship can grow even
more resolute and more productive.

Gur fada a ghabhfaidh pobail agus parlaimintí an dá oileán seo le chéile go
síochánta, go séanmhar agus sa chairdeas buandlúite idir Éire agus an
Bhreatain.

Long may our two peoples and their parliaments walk together in peace,
prosperity and ever closer friendship between Ireland and Britain.

Thank you again for your kind welcome.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir".


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