'Politics is about public service above all else'

NEW TAOISEACH Brian Cowen told the Dáil that he accepted the “honour with a genuine sense of genuine humility”.

“That sense is engendered in large part from a love of Ireland. This is a wonderful country. We are a fortunate people,” he said. “We live on an island which has come to enjoy the richness of full peace with no strife or agitation born from past hostilities. Yesterday’s proceedings at the site of the Battle of the Boyne have reinforced that fact in a very real and visible way.”

In a passionate and at times emotional speech, Mr Cowen said “consolidating the peace through economic development and mutual understanding will have my full engagement and wholehearted support.” But in a wide-ranging address, he also stressed “it is in the context of our European identity” and membership of the EU “that our place in the international arena, and our relationships with other nations, near and far, find their proper perspective and most potent context”.

Speaking at first in Irish, Mr Cowen stressed the importance of the Irish language and his commitment to preserve and develop it. “The death of the language is not a choice for us,” he said. “It’s not right that we should be ashamed to speak Irish in public.” He added: “Why can’t we be bilingual?”

The Taoiseach said there would always be critics of the language but he believed that the public had respect for it. He also said in Irish that he would give “every help” to the media and only asked for “fairness in our public life and especially in our private life”.

The Taoiseach told the Dáil he looked forward to leading the campaign for the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and said that “there is no more urgent or important task ahead of me”.

Stressing the importance of the EU project, he said that “we have availed of the full range of opportunities of membership better than most. The political, economic and social landscape has been utterly transformed for the better in this country.” He added that “the greatest mistake we could make now is to move away from that opening out to the world that has brought such benefits to our nation”.

The Taoiseach said that, in considering his new role, he had thought a great deal about Ireland’s place in the world today. He said economic success had been sustained, relationships on the island had been settled, and the movement of Irish people was now by choice. “And perhaps most strikingly of all we have accommodate tens of thousands of migrants coming to our shores to help us sustain our economic success.”

Mr Cowen said he had recently been reading Forty Shades of Green by Des Geraghty, former MEP and president of Ictu’s executive committee. He said Mr Geraghty’s “thesis is that we are now in a new space. What was once one of the most dispersed nations in the world is now becoming one of the most diverse nations. The change is visible and real. We are now redefining ourselves in terms of both mending relationships with those of other traditions of long standing within the island and establishing relationships with the new Irish and migrants who have come to our shores to share in the economic miracle of the Celtic Tiger economy.”

He warned that “one of the challenges we face today is to temper a rising tendency towards individualism within Irish society. We have rightly encouraged a culture of the individual taking personal responsibility for their own wellbeing.

“We have reaped benefits from the more confident Ireland as presented by its most successful people forging new opportunities at home and abroad. Overdone, this carries risks. Not correctly harnessed, this can sap the energy from our sense of community which is still strong and visible in so many ways.”

It was appropriate that, on his first working day today as Taoiseach, he would meet British prime minister Gordon Brown at the North’s investment conference and have an opportunity to “advance relationships and deepen engagement, both on a North-South and an East-West basis.” Saluting Mr Ahern and wishing him “happiness and fulfilment in the contributions which he will doubtless make over many years ahead”, the Taoiseach paid tribute to his predecessor “whose outstanding contribution to the life of this country has rightly attracted praise and acknowledgment from far and wide.”

The new Taoiseach spoke emotionally when he thanked his family. “I got my grounding in politics from my father, Ber, who had in turn got it from his father, Christy, a founding member of the Fianna Fáil party. Politics is about public service above all else.”

The Taoiseach said it was a great day for all his family and many friends “who have made this political journey with me and mine for many years. Their presence fortifies me today.”