Introduction
President Nogami, Ambassadors, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to be here with you today. I would like to thank President Nogami for providing me with the opportunity to address such a distinguished audience.
I know that this is one of Asia’s leading institutes for dialogue and research in the area of foreign and security policy.
This is my first visit to your wonderful country and I have been overwhelmed by the warmth of the welcome I have received and the friendliness of everyone I have met.
I have very vivid memories of watching the Olympic Games in Tokyo on the television at home in rural Ireland in 1964 and being transfixed by the city, the athletes and the occasion.
I look forward with excitement to the 2020 Games. I am confident that once again they will showcase Japan and its people to the world.
Of course, Japan suffered a devastating disaster in March 2011. Few nations could have coped with the tragic loss of life and destruction which followed.
But the Japanese people showed, as they have many times before in their history, great fortitude and resilience. They have inspired admiration and solidarity in equal measure from people the world over, including Ireland.
The Irish people continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in the task of recovery and we welcome the great progress that has been made in this monumental task.
Ireland has of course faced its own difficulties during its history including a catastrophic Famine and devastating conflict and violence in Northern Ireland.
In recent years we have faced very significant economic challenges which have deeply impacted on our people.
This afternoon, I would like to take the opportunity to tell you something of the country I am proud to lead and the progress we have made in emerging from a period of economic crisis.
I will also explore and trace the development of relations between our two countries and then point to some of the common challenges facing us in an ever changing and complex global environment.
Ireland’s history and economy
Ladies and gentlemen Ireland is a young country but an ancient nation. We achieved our independence only in 1922; where I come from in County Mayo in the west of Ireland, there stand stone walls built by farmers over 5,000 years ago.
The Celts came later to Ireland and sowed the seeds of the Gaelic culture and language which remain fundamental to our national identity.
In 1957, the year we established diplomatic relations with Japan, Ireland was a largely agricultural economy, with approximately 50% of the workforce engaged in farming.
Since then our agri-food sector has gone from strength to strength with a world renowned reputation for quality and excellence.
However, Ireland is now a mature export economy, exporting hi-tech and high value goods and services to the rest of the world.
However, as you may be aware when I came to office as Taoiseach in 2011, Ireland was facing its most challenging economic situation since the foundation of the State.
We were dealing with a badly-tarnished international reputation, a banking sector on the verge of collapse, a gaping fiscal hole, and a damaging loss of competitiveness.
This caused a knock on social crisis, where the total in employment had fallen by 12% in the three years before we came to office, and many people were struggling to manage boom-time mortgages.
The result of all this was the EU / ECB / IMF troika financial assistance programme entered into by the previous Government.
There were no easy answers or quick-fix solutions at our disposal. My Government – and the Irish people –had to make a series of very difficult choices and then crucially follow them through.
This was not easy but I am glad to say that Ireland’s economy is now emerging from this difficult period.
We are building our recovery on an economy based on sustainable enterprise, exports and innovation.
Modest economic growth is forecast for this year, accelerating to 2% in 2014. Ireland’s headline competitiveness ranking is up seven places since my Government came into office.
Most importantly employment levels have grown by 3.2% in the twelve months to September this year. This represents the strongest growth in jobs in years.
We continue to perform very strongly in attracting foreign direct investment. We have the most open economy in the western world.
One of the main attractions of Ireland is our passionate people… who have drive for excellence and quality.
As a result Ireland is ranked 1st in the world for labour force flexibility and adaptability.
We have a pro-business environment, with a world-class R&D environment, and a competitive and transparent tax rate.
We will take a very significant step when we exit our EU/IMF programme on 15 December, without the need for any precautionary line of support.
This demonstrates Ireland’s current strong position which is backed by returning international and market confidence.
The support of the international community for our efforts has been tremendous including from Japan reflecting the strong historic links between our two great countries.
Ireland’s links with Japan
On this very day 141 years ago in the famous Guinness brewery in Dublin, four members of the Iwakura Mission, including its deputy leader, Takayoshi Kido, enjoyed a glass of Guinness, or perhaps two.
They may well have been the first Japanese to drink Guinness in Dublin, the first of many thousands of Japanese visitors who have come to Ireland and enjoyed the many attractions the country offers.
More importantly, these men were the first Japanese government representatives to visit Ireland.
The Iwakura Mission came to Europe and the US as part of a systematic Japanese national effort to adopt the best of Western learning and experience. But Irish people also travelled to Japan during this period.
The most famous of these was Lafcadio Hearn, perhaps better known here as Koizumi Yakumo. In 1890 he travelled to Japan on an assignment for a magazine and spent the remaining 14 years of his life here, marrying a Japanese woman, adopting a Japanese name and later becoming Professor of English Literature at the Imperial University of Tokyo.
Hearn is rightly celebrated today for his scholarly works on Japanese society and tradition which brought to a wide foreign audience for the first time the richness of Japanese culture.
Another notable Irish figure in Japan at this time was the army bandmaster from Cork, John William Fenton, who composed the first version of Japan’s national anthem, Kimigayo.
It can be seen, therefore, that even though our diplomatic relations date from 1957, the links between our two countries go back to the Meiji period.
Japan was the first Asian country with which Ireland established diplomatic relations. Since then, our relationship has advanced beyond all recognition. Our political relations are warm and close, we have a strong economic relationship and the cultural links between our two countries are vibrant and extensive.
For example, more than 700 Irish nationals have participated in the fantastic JET Programme in Japan since it began in 1987, and there are currently around 80 Irish participants here, one of the largest national groups per capita.
In a little over 3 years’ time, in 2017, Ireland and Japan will mark 60 years of diplomatic relations. We approach that landmark with a relationship between the two countries that has never been stronger.
My visit caps a year that has been one of the most intensive periods of engagement between our two countries. There have been a number of Ministerial visits this year, while Mr. Yuji Yamamoto, Chairman of the Japan Ireland Parliamentary Friendship League also visited Ireland.
I am very pleased that Mr. Yamamoto is here today and I would like to acknowledge the important contribution he has made to the development of relations between Ireland and Japan.
Very significantly, last June, Prime Minister Abe visited Dublin, the first ever Japanese Prime Minister to do so. At his invitation, I have come here this week to Tokyo and will also visit Osaka.
I met with the Prime Minister yesterday evening and we had a very wide-ranging and fruitful discussion. Some of you will have seen the Joint Declaration which we concluded at our meeting.
This demonstrates the depth, breadth, and strength of our two countries’ bilateral relations and our strong ambitions for their further development.
I believe there is very significant potential for economic, trade and research collaboration between our two countries.
I met yesterday with the Ireland-Japan Chamber of Commerce which was established in January 2008 and has over 100 members.
We are also working with the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) to advance investment links between our two countries.
In addition I am attending a number of events during my visit to promote greater economic, business and trade collaboration between our two countries for our mutual benefit.
One event of particular interest was the Green Energy Symposium I attended earlier today entitled ‘Ireland and Japan: Working Together Towards a Green Energy Future’.
As you know Ireland has some of the best renewable energy resources in Europe and the development of that sector continues apace.
Today’s symposium brought together policy makers and industry leaders to present the latest research, development and innovation taking place in Japan and Ireland in green energy, and discuss the potential for further partnership in the sector.
Another area which may be of particular interest relates to technology focused on older people or responding to the challenges of ageing, so called ‘silver tech’, where Ireland has particular expertise and Japan has particular needs.
Japan has long been a leader in technology and your high tech companies were among the first foreign companies to establish operations in Ireland.
Today, there are more than 50 Japanese companies in Ireland employing over 2,500 people. These companies operate mainly in the pharmaceuticals, medical technologies, international financial services and ICT sectors, including such leading names as Takeda, Astellas, Freund, Daiwa Securities, and Fujitsu.
We are delighted to see investment in Ireland from Japanese companies such as Gala in the online gaming space.
Dublin is host to the Silicon Docks which is the anchor location for many of the world leading digital companies. Nine of the top ten global ICT companies have some or all of their European operations based in Ireland.
As well as our well educated, young workforce, and our pro-business environment, our membership of the European Union and Eurozone, are among the reasons why Ireland has had such a successful track-record in attracting the world’s biggest multinationals.
The European Union
EU membership has brought Ireland enormous benefits, including infrastructural investment, access to new markets, and new laws and standards.
This year we celebrated our 40th anniversary of our European Union membership and we are still as passionate about Europe as ever.
While located on the western fringe of Europe we consider ourselves at the heart of Europe by working constructively and intensely with the institutions of the European Union along with our Member State partners.
As we exit our international programme of assistance next week we look forward to working with Europe to promote economic growth across the EU and with our global partners.
In June this year, Ireland completed a very successful seventh EU Presidency term.
I am pleased to say that during our Presidency, negotiations on a historic EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement and a Strategic Partnership Agreement got underway.
I am pleased at the progress made at the EU-Japan summit in Tokyo last month. We are ambitious for the agreements. An early conclusion of the Economic Partnership Agreement will help build a climate of confidence necessary for economic growth and investment.
Such an Agreement would also complement the strong efforts of Prime Minister Abe to revitalise the economy of Japan.
At the international level, Ireland together with our EU partners engages fully with Japan as members in the Asia Europe (ASEM) process.
Northern Ireland
The core rationale behind the establishment of the EU was to bring peace to a war-ravaged continent and in that it has succeeded. Specifically in Ireland we have made huge strides in resolving the conflict that existed in the north of our island.
Spurred on a by a populace weary of violence, the main parties in Northern Ireland came together, with the assistance of the Irish and British governments and others. After many years of difficult negotiations a political settlement was forged, initially in the form of the Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998.
Under that and subsequent Agreements, the two communities which had been so bitterly divided now govern together in a power-sharing arrangement.
The vast majority of people in Northern Ireland are united by an overwhelming determination not to go back to the dark days of the past. They want instead the freedom to concentrate on what really matters to them: seeking a peaceful and prosperous future for themselves and their families.
I am delighted that the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Mr. Peter Robinson and Mr. Martin McGuinness, are also in Japan this week, and I wish them a very successful trip.
International affairs – Peace and security
Our history has taught us the vital importance of engaging with the world outside our shores.
Although we are a small country, we have continually sought to play our part in global affairs and to help other countries as we have been helped by our many friends around the world.
At the heart of our international outreach is our membership of the United Nations. We have served on the Security Council on a number of occasions and we are currently a member of the Human Rights Council.
I would like to thank Japan for its support for our election to the Human Rights Council. We are very happy to have the opportunity to work closely with you as a fellow member on issues where our views and our values are very close.
At the heart of Ireland’s foreign policy is a belief in international service. This is seen particularly in our commitment to UN peacekeeping. We embarked on our first mission in the Congo fifty-three years ago.
In the years since, our peacekeepers have served in Lebanon, in Kosovo, in Chad, in Liberia, in East Timor (Timor Leste) and in many other peacekeeping operations, earning a reputation for professionalism and service.
Drawing on our experience of UN peacekeeping and the lessons learnt from our own peace process, Ireland has real expertise in the area of conflict resolution. Irish civilian experts make major contributions to EU and UN crisis management missions, as well as efforts to resolve conflicts around the world.
In tandem with our work on conflict resolution, Ireland is also committed to the principles of disarmament and non-proliferation, a foreign policy goal we share with Japan.
We are very proud that resolutions initially proposed by Ireland at the UN General Assembly which gave rise to the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
We remain strongly committed to the elimination of nuclear weapons and WMDs. I was delighted also to see that Japan was able this year to join a resolution on the Humanitarian Dimension of Nuclear Disarmament.
Ireland and Asia
Within the international community, the 21st century is already being spoken of as the Asian century and there are good reasons why.
The region accounts for over half the world’s population and by 2025 will account for over half the world’s output.
Ireland has set the objective of increasing our political, trade and investment ties in the region.
Starting from a low base, the share of Asian trade has grown by more than 250% to date. While it is still less than 10% of our total trade, the Asia region now is currently the strongest potential source of growth in Irish trade in the years ahead.
Global challenges
However, our engagement with Asia can no longer be seen solely through the narrow prism of economic, bilateral or even regional relations. For the reality is that the challenges confronting humanity are increasingly global and require global solutions.
These include finding sustainable and renewable sources of energy; learning how to feed a growing global population; and resolving local or regional conflicts that have the potential to threaten world peace.
These are the tests that confront us all in the West and the East.
No one country can hope to solve these problems on its own. Global institutions are increasingly called on to play an important role in world affairs. But we need to support these organisations and work more closely together to reinforce their authority and their effectiveness.
Conclusion
In recognition of our global interdependence, my visit here this week is not just about promoting economic or cultural exchanges. But when I met Prime Minister Abe last night, we talked about a partnership that would see Japan and Ireland working together on the international stage not only for the benefit of our own countries but also to help tackle the problems that challenge our world.
There is a proverb in our Irish language which says “Ní neart go cur le chéile”, which means “there is no strength without unity”. Japan and Ireland lie almost 10,000 kilometres from each
other. Our origins and our cultures are very different. Yet now, more than ever, there is much more that unites us than sets us apart. So let us build on that unity and forge a new dynamic in our relationship for the future.
I hope that those who come after us will look back on this as the start of a new and exciting chapter in the relationship between our two countries.
Thank You.