Fate, Faith and Freedom

Lord Mayor I would like to start with a quote:

“So Ireland is still old Ireland but it has found a new mission and that is to lead the free world to join with other countries in the free world to do what Ireland did in the early part of this century and indeed has done for the last 800 years and that is to associate itself intimately with the principle of freedom”. John F Kennedy, Friday morning 28 June 1963, Concert Hall, Cork City Hall.

Congratulations on a great year Lord Mayor. Congrats on your mission. In a building filled with memories of what it means to be free, in a room filled with artefacts and documents about freedom, and with a chain made to represent the identity of its citizens perhaps the word freedom pervades your year in office.  I was struck by the concept of freedom and citizenship even more at the recent freedom of the city event and your comments in framing the position of the arts in the city and region and its multiple connections to the concept of the freedom of expression.

In your year of office you strongly championed the freedom to express oneself in the arts and in education. You initiated discussions directly and indirectly into the power of freedom – in your well researched and recent Freedom of the City speech, you alluded to freedom as a force that has the power to stop, impress, make one question, wonder, dream, remember, be disturbed, explore and not forget.

There is a faith in the freedom attached to the symbolism of the chain you wear and the symbols within, a faith in the ss links symbolising a sacred office and a faith connected to a symbol of a maritime gate, the city medieval water gate, which for centuries many years served to welcome the Corkonian home or welcome the stranger to a place of not only commerce but one of freedom, ideas and hope.

As a building, its cultural foundations are haunted by the principles of its martyred Lord Mayors, Tomas McCurtain and Terence McSwiney and these echo through the ages. Lord Mayor Cllr MacSwiney in his book Principles of Freedom spoke about people gifted with certain powers of soul and body. That it is of vital importance to the individual and the community that one be given a full opportunity to place a value on developing one’s talent, and quote “to fill one’s place in the world worthily”.

In your own speeches during the year, you alluded to many many people beavering away for no reward but for the advancement of their community and the Lord Mayor’s place to seek out these corners and shine a spotlight of hope on them. McSwiney in his book speaks about the citizen:

Quote: “The citizen will fight for that ideal in obscurity, little heeded–in the open, misunderstood; in humble places, still undaunted; in high places, seizing every vantage point, never crushed, never silent, never despairing, cheering a few comrades with hope for the morrow. And should these few sink in the struggle the greatness of the ideal is proven in the last hour “. End quote

We’ve seen during this year and even this evening, the hope of freedom during protests – that the chain has many faces, some bound up with the idea of Cork identity and citizenship and the other with the chain of politics, sometimes working in tandem with each other and sometimes jarring with each other.

The chain has witnessed it all in its almost 230 year history; it has seen the best and worst of times in this city, its rise and falls and will continue to see the rises and falls. Whether or which the concept of freedom associated with the chain is that of a thriving and resilient space-a space of aspiration for change. The chain seems to carry all of those mixed symbols.

Nearly fifty years ago, this day next week the Cork Lord Mayor, Alderman Seán Casey, TD, opened his address to John F Kennedy by noting “You stand for the weak against the strong, for right against might”. JFK wove his concerns about the cold war and the search for freedom into the story of the Irish War of Independence and Ireland’s inheritance of freedom. And the idea of freedom and its power to transform individuals and society.

During your year, you also spoke at length about how the freedom of one idea can transform a community, can re-invent, can re-imagine and represent a community. It’s amazing how one idea can create new possibilities, new opportunities can create self determination, people of vision, create more ideas, teach new skills, can explore and respond to social and cultural needs. Certainly this is a time which necessitates vision and ideas to support the surrounding community in a time of need and once more a time of change.

I would also like to congratulate the Deputy Lord Mayor Cllr O’Halloran on his work; Cllr O’Halloran also wove aspects of the importance of civic pride, education and building communities in our city, and that even the smallest events in our midst make a difference in our lives.

To conclude Lord Mayor, in his nomination acceptance speech in July 1960, John F Kennedy noted: “Can a nation governed such as ours endure? That is the real question. Have we the nerve and the Will?”.

Certainly during the year Lord Mayor, you carried forward this city with confidence, with passion and even wit in your leadership, courage in your illness and all of that bound to the the city’s hopes and dreams, which burn brightly for the future. This great city keeps moving and the tests of our time demand continuous action.

I wish you well for the future and look forward to your healthy return to the political gladiator arena. Go raibh maith agaibh.