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Latest News St. PATRICK’S DAY MESSAGE 2014 PATRICK’S DAY MESSAGE 2014 MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT MICHAEL D. HIGGINS I am delighted to send best wishes for St Patrick’s Day to the people of Ireland and to our global family and friends around the world. The 17th of March is a day when we remember St Patrick and the very challenging circumstances under which he arrived on our shores. Despite the fact that he was a Roman-Briton who came to Ireland as a slave, Patrick forgave his captors and accepted the Irish he encountered as his own community. We recall the transformative power of his great spirit of forgiveness and generosity. It was this generous spirit that commended Patrick to be embraced as our beloved patron saint. His name has since become synonymous with an inclusive and authentic version of Irishness with its stress on the duty and the joys of hospitality. For those of us who will spend St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, I hope its celebration, in the company of family and friends, will connect with those deep authentic aspects of Irish life which we share and of which we are rightly proud – our music, our culture, our sports, our natural environment and our rich community life. In recent years, there has been a welcome increase in the number and nature of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations facilitating greater participation by the diverse communities who make up the tapestry of our lives together. The many parades that now take place across the country express our citizens’ pride in their home place; they are valuable expressions of community solidarity and are deserving of our participation and support. St. Patrick’s Day also marks the advent of spring, a season of renewal that is keenly welcomed after the severe weather of recent weeks and the destruction it has caused. Patrick’s values of pastoral concern and human solidarity were much in evidence as members of the emergency services, local authority workers and good neighbours reached out to assist those who were afflicted by the storms and the flooding. It was an uplifting example of that spirit of friendship and generosity embodied by Patrick in his own lifetime and which continues to define our sense of community today. As we reflect on the remarkable life of St Patrick, we are also conscious of how the theme of migration has remained an important part of our national narrative. It continues to play a significant role in defining us as a society and as a people. Today we celebrate our wider and diverse Irish family, to whom we remain connected by a strong cultural heritage and history. We are grateful for all they do to keep that heritage alive in their adopted homelands across the globe, as well as for their interest in, and tangible support for, Ireland’s welfare and development. Today is a special day for all those Irish communities great and small across the world that come together in a spirit of pride and joy to celebrate their identity and their links of affinity and affection with their homeland of origin. On St. Patrick’s Day, our recent emigrants from Ireland will, in particular, be foremost in our thoughts. Where ever they may be, we hope that our sons and daughters are happy and prospering in their adopted communities and that they will have some opportunity, with friends and neighbours, to share the joyous celebration of our patron saint. I am especially conscious of Irish peacekeepers and humanitarian workers whose sense of service to vulnerable people in distant places prevents them from being home on this special day. Just as we remember our own emigrants, we should also be mindful of those migrants who have made Ireland their new home and, on this day in particular, make a special effort to include them in our national celebration. To all those who share this island, to Irish people by birth or descent wherever they may be in the world and to those who simply consider themselves to be friends of Ireland, I wish each and every one of you a happy, peaceful and authentically Irish St. Patrick’s Day. © 2012 Áras an Uachtaráin
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Latest News TEACHTAIREACHT LÁ FHÉILE PÁDRAIG 2014 TEACHTAIREACHT LÁ FHÉILE PÁDRAIG 2014 Tá an-áthas orm beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig a sheoladh chuig muintir na hÉireann agus chuig ár muintir agus ár gcairde ar fud an domhain. Tá an seachtú lá déag de Mhárta ar an lá a gcuimhnimid ar Naomh Pádraig agus ar na cúinsí fíordhúshlánacha a bhain lena theacht go hÉirinn. In ainneoin gur Bhriotanach-Rómhánach a tháinig go hÉirinn mar sclábhaí a bhí ann, thug Pádraig maithiúnas dóibh siúd a ghabh é agus ghlac sé leis na hÉireannaigh ar bhuail sé leo mar chuid dá phobal féin. Cuimhnimid ar an acmhainn bhunathraithe chun feabhais a bhí ina spiorad maiteachais agus mórchroíoch. Ba é an spiorad mórchroíoch sin an chúis gur ghlacamar Pádraig chugainn féin mar ár n-éarlamh ionúin. Ó shin i leith samhlaimid leagan cuimsitheach agus fíréanta den Éireannachas nuair a smaoinimid ar a ainm agus béim á leagan ar an dualgas agus ar ghairdeas na haíochta Tá súil agam go ndéanfaimidne, a chaithfidh Lá Fhéile Pádraig in Éirinn i gcuideachta ár gclann agus ár gcairde, ceangal idir a cheiliúradh agus na gnéithe doimhne fíréanta sin de shaol na hÉireann a roinnimid eadrainn agus a bhfuilimid bródúil astu – ár gceol, ár gcultúr, ár spóirt, ár gcomhshaol nádúrtha agus ár saol pobail saibhir. Le blianta beag anuas, tá méadú tagtha ar líon agus ar chineál ócáidí ceiliúrtha Lá Fhéile Pádraig, rud a chuidíonn le rannpháirtíocht na bpobal éagsúil, ar cuid de ghréasán casta ár saoil iad. Léiríonn an iliomad mórshiúlta a bhíonn ar siúl ar fud na tíre bród ár saoránach ina mbaile dúchais; is léiriú luachmhar iad ar dhlúthchomhar an phobail agus tá ár rannpháirtíocht agus ár dtacaíocht tuillte acu. Is comhartha ar theacht an earraigh Lá Fhéile Pádraig chomh maith, séasúr na hathnuachana a bhfuil fáilte mhór roimhe tar éis aimsir dhian na seachtainí beaga atá caite agus an scrios atá ina thoradh air. Ba luachmhar do Phádraig an cúram tréadach agus an dlúthchomhar daonna agus bhí na tréithe sin le tabhairt faoi deara agus baill na seirbhísí éigeandála, oibrithe na n-údarás áitiúil agus comharsana maithe ag freastal orthu siúd a bhí buailte ag na stoirmeacha agus ag na tuilte. Ba léiriú é ar an ardú meanman a thagann as spiorad an mhuintearais agus an chairdis a thaispeáin Naomh Pádraig le linn a shaoil féin agus a shainíonn fós braistint an chomhair inár bpobail inniu. Agus muid ag smaoineamh ar shaol iontach Naomh Pádraig, smaoinimid gur gné thábhachtach fós é téama na himirce inár scéal náisiúnta. Tá ról tábhachtach i gcónaí aige inár sonrú mar shochaí agus mar phobal. Inniu déanaimid ceiliúradh ar an bhfine Ghaelach scaipthe agus éagsúil, a bhfuil ceangal dlúth againn leo fós trínár stair agus ár n-oidhreacht chultúrtha. Táimid buíoch díobh as a bhfuil á dhéanamh acu chun an oidhreacht sin a choimeád beo i dtíortha a ndídine trasna an domhain, chomh maith lena suim i leas agus i bhforbairt na hÉireann agus a dtacaíocht fhollasach dóibh sin. Is lá speisialta atá ann inniu do na pobail Éireannacha sin go léir trasna an domhain, idir bheag agus mhór, a thagann le chéile i spiorad bróid agus áthais chun a bhféiniúlacht agus ceangal a mbá agus a ngrá dá dtír dhúchais a cheiliúradh. Ar Lá Fhéile Pádraig, beidh ár n-eisimircigh nua as Éirinn go háirithe chun tosaigh inár smaointe. Pé áit ina bhfuil siad, tá súil againn go mbeidh ár gclanna mac agus iníonacha sona sásta agus iad ag déanamh go maith ina bpobail roghnaithe agus go mbeidh deis éigin acu, lena gcairde agus a gcomharsana, páirt a ghlacadh i gceiliúradh áthasach ár n-éarlaimh. Táim ag smaoineamh go háirithe ar na hÉireannaigh sin i gcéin atá i mbun síochán a choimeád agus a bhfuil obair dhaonchabhrach ar siúl acu, agus nach féidir leo teacht abhaile ar an lá speisialta seo mar gheall ar a ndílseacht do dhaoine leochaileacha i bhfad óna mbaile. Ar an mbealach céanna a gcuimhnimid ar ár n-eisimircigh féin, ba cheart dúinn cuimhneamh ar na himircigh sin a bhfuil baile nua déanta acu in Éirinn, agus ar an lá seo go háirithe ba cheart dúinn iarracht speisialta a dhéanamh chun iad a chur san áireamh inár gceiliúradh náisiúnta. Orthu siúd go léir a chomhroinneann an t-oileán seo, ar mhuintir na hÉireann, más ó dhúchas nó de bhunaidh na hÉireann iad, agus pé áit ar domhan ina bhfuil siad, agus orthu siúd a fhéachann orthu féin mar chairde Éireann, guím Lá Fhéile Pádraig oraibh atá sona, síochánta agus Gaelach go fíréanta. © 2012 Áras an Uachtaráin