Madam, – I wish to express my joy at the events of the past two weeks in this proud land of ours. From the efforts of Jedward in the Eurovision, to the visit of the Queen and the images at the Garden of Remembrance, the holding of the Europa League Final in the brilliant Aviva Stadium and Leinster’s tremendous comeback in the Heineken Cup Final. The inspirational homily from Fr Enda McDonagh on the occasion of Dr Garret FitzGerald’s funeral and finally the awesome words of President Obama at College Green will be relayed and recalled by many for generations to come.
The spirit of optimism that has appeared in recent times is as welcome as a summer’s day for an anxious farmer waiting to save the hay. As a nation, we need to step up and run with this optimism and take charge of our long overdue recovery. If there is such a thing as the American dream, surely there is a hope that we have the Irish dream to live here in our own communities?
These days have given us a tremendous opportunity to be a better land, and history in time will acknowledge us for taking that chance. We are proud to be Irish and we will be carrying that pride for generations to come. Our mantra is now, more than ever, “Yes we can”.
– Yours, etc,