Mr Vice President, Dr. Biden,Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh go léir.
I’m delighted to join you again for this celebratory breakfast in honour of Ireland’s patron saint.
St Patrick was a herdsman. In the fields at night he would have known the stars. And here, the Naval Observatory keeps America, and the world, up to speed with happenings in that same cosmos. Over the last week, millions of astrophysicists and astronomers around the world have been watching the unusual and spectacular conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. In Ireland it’s created quite a stir as Dublin gears up to become the European City of Science 2012.
Vice-President Biden, you are here today because a branch of the Finnegan family left Ulster. Like so many of you here today, theirs were among ‘the genes’ that built America. And while I have no desire to rob America of such stellar talent... Irish people love to be home. Home is always where our heart is. And Mr Vice President, I can assure you that in Ireland your family is waiting with warm hearts to welcome you ‘home’ to visit. Just as that fine couple from Chicago were welcomed ‘home’ last May.
Since becoming Taoiseach I have said time and again that it is our Uaisleacht, our nobility, that has sustained us for thousands of years. The Uaisleacht, nobility, that guarantees a wealth that can never be touched, or tarnished or taken. Wolfe Tone held this virtue - an Irish patriot I know Vice President Biden has admired – ‘he had the ability to make his own comfort secondary to the greater good.’
So, of course, this is the time of year when we in Ireland celebrate our identity and our history and when we celebrate together with our global family of which so many of you are part.
This year we are 120 years on from when the first immigrant arrived through Ellis Island.... Annie Moore from Cork. It’s 50 years now since one John Fitzgerald Kennedy became President of the United States, leader of the Free World and star of every kitchen wall in Ireland. It’s 14 years since the cross-party, cross-community, transatlantic effort that culminated in the Good Friday Agreement. What the much-missed Senator Ted Kennedy back in Derry called the ‘irresistible force that will make the immovable object move’. And if we remember that, who can tell us that anything is impossible for our future?
Yes, we have challenges in Ireland. But we are taking decisions and meeting these challenges head on as a nation. The road ahead is long. But we are resilient and we are equal to the journey. We’ve made steady progress in the last 12 months. Our economy is growing. Bank deposits are returning. Exports are doing well. We are re-asserting our place in the world. And, of course, our relationship with the United States is an integral part of our strategy for sustainable recovery and growth.
So all that remains for me is to thank you Mr Vice President and to wish you and everyone here the peace and joy of St Patrick.
At this time, here at the Observatory, they will be marking the Vernal Equinox. At this time, Irish hearts will be marking the new light of Spring in our country, when the days stretch and the birds sing. May this new light in our world bring new light to Ireland. And on this day when we celebrate our patron, St Patrick, may Ireland become and remain ever closer, ever dearer, to America’s heart.