Berne, 23 February 2007, 12 noon in the Hotel Bellevue Palace (Salon Rouge)
The spoken word applies
Mr. O’Hanlon,
Members of the Irish parliament,
Your Excellency,
Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Ireland – the Emerald Isle – with its golden beaches, its towering rocky cliffs, its lighthouses standing proudly above the pounding sea, its mysterious moors and lush pastures divided up by stone walls, its small picturesque villages with their fascinating old churches, its romantic lakes ...
Ireland and its capital, Dublin, with its famous university where Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett were students, with Trinity College, founded in 1591, whose library contains the exquisite 8th century illuminated manuscript of the Gospels – the Book of Kells ...
Ireland, with its distilleries that include such noble names in whiskey as Bushmills and Tullamore Dew, its creamy-headed stout that flows readily in cosy pubs, its friendly and welcoming people, its rhythmic folk music so full of the charm and wisdom that reflect so poignantly the pleasures and cares of the population ...
... it is all this that draws innumerable Swiss visitors to Ireland every year and stays in their memories long after.
I should like once again to welcome Mr. O’Hanlon and his delegation to Switzerland. It is a great privilege for me to be able to welcome you here today following the visit to Ireland in 2005 of my predecessor as President of the National Council, Thérèse Meyer.
Ireland and Switzerland have many things in common. Both countries have achieved a high standard of living through discipline and effort. For many years now the Republic of Ireland has enjoyed a rate of economic growth that is well above the EU average and today Ireland attracts workers from all over the world. The days when people from both our countries were forced to seek a new life far from home are not so far away, however, if we think of the massive emigration of Irish people to the United States. Today, despite being open market economies, both Ireland and Switzerland have not lost their cultural identity nor abandoned their traditions. In both countries multilingualism is the norm. Irish has in fact recently been adopted as an official language within the European Union.
Ireland and Switzerland also have historical ties. In the 6th century the Irish monk and missionary Gallus came to our country – and left his mark not least in the name of the Swiss town of St. Gallen. Another well known Irish person, namely James Joyce, who was perhaps the most important pioneer of modern literature, fled to Zurich during the Second World War and is buried in the cemetery in Fluntern. The internationally renowned James Joyce Foundation in Zurich and the most comprehensive collection of its type built up by the Swiss James Joyce researcher, Fritz Senn, are a fitting tribute to the creator of Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake.
My dear guests – I am extremely pleased to be with you all here today and to have the opportunity to enjoy talks between representativs of our two parliaments ... and I am especially looking forward to accompanying you tomorrow on a visit to my native area, the canton of Aargau.
May I now propose a toast to our Irish guests, to the future prosperity of your country and to the continuation of excellent and warm relations between our two countries.
Your good health