State Lunch hosted by Governor General and Lady Cosgrove

State Lunch hosted by Governor General and Lady Cosgrove

Speech by Michael D. Higgins President of Ireland

Government House, Canberra

Monday, 16th October, 2017

Sir Peter Cosgrove, Lady Cosgrove, Distinguished guests,

Is mian liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil libh as an cuireadh caoin dúinn a bheith libh anseo san áit galánta seo, Teach an Rialtais.

Thank you for the invitation to lunch with you and Lady Cosgrove here in the elegant surroundings of Government House.

Sabina and I are delighted to have the opportunity to meet with you again so soon after your recent visit to Ireland. I trust that the visit gave you a good flavour of the diversity of the connections between our two countries and the possibilities that they contain. I hope you found the visit to be worthwhile and enjoyable.

The historic links between our two countries are many. Between 1840 and 1914, approximately a third of a million Irish people emigrated to the Australian colonies. The migratory stories of the many Irish who have travelled to Australia across the decades and the centuries are myriad and complex. They are stories that have created a profound link between our two countries, and a friendship that stretches across the many thousands of miles that separate us. In fact, Irish was one of the first European languages spoken in Australia, since there were Irish speakers among both the convicts and their gaolers.

We began our visit in Perth where I had the opportunity of acknowledging the first occupants and paying homage to their ancestors. In recent times, Perth has become a popular destination for recent Irish emigrants. In fact, the 2016 census shows Western Australia has overtaken Victoria for the size of its Irish-born population.

In Perth we found a vibrant Irish Australian community; proud of their connection to both our countries; keen to participate in both societies, enthusiastic about sharing with their Australian friends and neighbours our Irish culture and sensibility, particularly in sport, music and dance; but also, recognising and celebrating the contribution the Irish have made and will continue to make to the formation of the Australian nation.

In Perth I also had the opportunity to commemorate the Fenian John Boyle O’Reilly and to recall his eloquent descriptions of the Western Australian landscape where he toiled as a convict; and to honour the thousands of men, women, and children who escaped hunger and poverty at home to avail of opportunities offered in this far off land.

From there we travelled to Melbourne where the Irish influence on the city is all around: from its Parliament and its great institutions to the labouring men and women who built its grand buildings, worshipped in its Cathedrals, and played on the pitch and cheered in the stands of the great Melbourne Cricket Ground.

In Hobart I had the opportunity to recall Australia’s convict past, a past which is no longer a point of shame, but recognised as an important contributor to the building of the Australian nation and the development of the uniquely Australian character.

Sir Peter, we are looking forward to visiting your home town of Sydney tomorrow. Again my programme will celebrate the connections between our two countries, both the current, in fields as diverse as trade, sport, and culture; and the historic, in particular recalling the famine orphan girls from whom so many Australians are descended.

Before I left Ireland, when speaking of this visit to Australia, it seemed that almost every Irish family I met had some family member who is either living, or has spent time, in Australia. I know that during your visit to Dublin you met with the two hundred and seventy-fifth thousand recipient of the Working Holiday Visa.

To have over a quarter of a million young Irish people come to Australia to live and work and experience Australian life for a period can only lead to closer ties between our two countries. The fact that many also loved and never left is perhaps indicative of the welcome extended by Australia, not to mention the more equable climate.

Like so many of my compatriots I too have family connections to Australia.

And I am very much looking forward to celebrating these connections, and meeting with cousins, when Sabina and I visit the town of Warwick in Queensland.

Personal contacts are vitally important in building and maintaining good relations between countries. With so many family connections our people-to-people engagement is extremely strong. I am happy to note that political and official engagement is also increasing significantly. Our respective visits come after a number of Ministerial and trade visits in each direction this year. I very much hope that the momentum will continue and we will have many more visitors from official Australia in the coming years. I can assure you they will receive a welcome as enthusiastic and generous as your own has been to us.

Gabhaim buíochas ó chroí libh, agus guím gabh rath agus beannacht oraibh.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.