Sir Anthony O’Reilly Dinner : 28 Feb 2008

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On Thursday 28 February 2008 The Australian Ireland Fund had the pleasure of hosting Sir Anthony O’Reilly AO the founder of the Ireland Funds, and his wife Lady Chryss O’Reilly at a dinner at Guillaume at Bennelong, Sydney Opera House.

It was an intimate dinner and provided us with an opportunity to say thank you to our most generous and loyal supporters over the years. Sir Anthony made a presentation to Mr. Paul Ramsay AO, Mr. Jack O’Mahony and Mr. Brendan Hopkins as they had become Life Governors of The Australian Ireland Fund. Waterford Crystal Governor Suite Peace Trophies were presented to our new Life Governors in recognition of their generous and ongoing support of the Work of the Australian Ireland Fund.

A presentation of a set of 8 Waterford Crystal Governor Suite glasses was also made to Nicholas Moore for his contribution as a Governor of the Australian Ireland Fund.

Sir Anthony made an inspiring speech at the dinner telling guests:

“...the concept that brought The Ireland Fund into being was not simply as a fundraising body, but as a “confederation of concern” for all of Ireland, North and South, Catholic and Protestant, that was worldwide and was not based on only raising money, but is based on raising concern and awareness and pride in your Irish roots... " 

Some of our other guests on the night included Mr. Chris Anderson of Consolidated Media, Mr. Paul O’Sullivan, Optus, Mr. Angus James, ABN Amro, John & Frances Ingham and Tom Magnier to name just a few.

We sincerely thank Brendan Hopkins of APN for all his support of the Australian Ireland Fund, Sir Anthony & Lady Chris O’Reilly for their time on the evening and all our guests for their continuing support.

We could not continue to support as many people, families and projects as we do in Northern Ireland as we do without it.

Photos

1 – Nicholas Moore, H.E. Ambassador Máirtín Ó Fainín & Jane Cosgrove
2 – Chris & Margie Knaap
3 – Fiona Fayyad, Scott and Amanda Riedel & Joe Fayyad
4 – Nicholas Moore, Helen Moore & Sir Anthony O’Reilly AO
5 – Lady Chryss O’Reilly & Eleni Longwell 
6 – Sir Anthony O’Reilly AO, Gayle Dunn & Peter Cosgrove
7 – Brendan Hopkins & Sir Anthony O’Reilly AO

Speeches

Sir Anthony O’Reilly
The first thing I want to do tonight is to pay a special tribute to a man whose patience, calm, tenacity and generosity have been bywords in the success of The Ireland Fund of Australia over the last ten years. You will not need to be Sherlock Holmes to know I am talking about Charles Curran and with him, I enjoin his charming wife, Eva.

As my few words will reveal, over the past 30 years, we have been steered from periods of great national danger and lack of prosperity in Ireland, to a position of qualified peace and apparent, if diminishing economic vitality. None of your awareness of this would have been possible without Charles Curran, and I can think of no other person anywhere in the world of The Ireland Funds--in 14 nations, or as Kingsley Aikins says, 15, if you include Texas—in which he has presided with more constancy, creativity and most important, consistency. He is a steadfast friend of Ireland, and Chryss and I very much appreciate it.

There are three stories that may preface my words tonight which are appropriate to the present-day Ireland.

First, the words of Oscar Wilde who said, “A sense of impending doom carries most Irishmen through long periods of tranquility.”

The second involves the chairman of a co-operative society in the South of Ireland who said to his shareholders, “Last year, I told you this group stood on the edge of a precipice.” “This year,” he said, “we have taken a great leap forward.”

And the third, and perhaps most telling of all, is the story of the Lett Brothers, which I have told before, but whose resonance is even more important today. The H. J. Heinz Company, of which I was then Chairman and CEO, attempted the purchase of a company owned by the Lett Brothers, who produced seafood products in Ireland. There were four brothers, and on the appointed day, the bankers in Ireland who were convening the meeting asked me to declaim upon the merits of Heinz, which I did so with a certain élan. I piled hyperbole upon the head of hyperbole, and pointed to the great vistas of profit and opportunity that lay before our joint companies if we made the acquisition. I ended, I thought, on a rather high note, and we all looked intently at the four Lett brothers, one of whom, Jim, had been appointed as spokesman. He was silent for a moment, but then he leaned across to me and said, “Jaysus, Tony, the lies we could tell together.”

Despite their obvious good humor – you might ask, what is the sum of these stories?
Well, let me explain.

One year ago, I received a letter from an active member of The Ireland Fund of Australia. It said, in a nutshell, ”What is the point of an Australian Ireland Fund to help Ireland, when Ireland is so prosperous it should be helping Australia?” He argued that the process of peace had succeeded, that per capita income in Ireland was the highest in Europe, and that there could be no cause that justified the continuation of a fundraising organization for Ireland abroad. It was a cogent thesis, but wrong – both in substance, in concept and in its recognition of the history of our two great nations. Let me expand . . .

The prosperity achieved by Ireland in the past ten years has been remarkable, but the “Celtic Tiger” is no more, and we will no longer have galloping growth, with 5-8% increase in GNP per annum for the next ten years. We will now have to build on the rather fragile prosperity of the past unusual ten years, husband our resources, be more innovative, accept economies, and perform like most European economies have to do, and for the first time, make major contributions as opposed to receiving huge grants from the European community.

I used to tell a story about asking a Dublin taxi driver, “What is the reason for Ireland’s present prosperity?”

He said, There are three reasons:
1. Computer literate children through our excellent educational system,
2. The lowest tax rate in Europe,
and most importantly,
3. We’re robbing the bloody Germans blind through the EEC!

All this is good, if sobering, but the concept that brought The Ireland Fund into being was not simply as a fundraising body, but as a “confederation of concern” for all of Ireland, North and South, Catholic and Protestant, that was worldwide and was not based on only raising money, but is based on raising concern and awareness and pride in your Irish roots. The Ireland Fund is an important statement for the Irish to make, not just in Australia, but all over the world, and The Ireland Funds will evolve and mutate in future years in a way which allows it both to enhance your sense of ancestry and at the same time, contribute meaningfully to the countries that have been hospitable to the Irish across the globe.

Throughout the centuries—from the time of the Egyptians and the Romans, to the empires of Napoleon and Great Britain—the concept of Empire was a simple one: “Veni, Vidi, Vici” – “we came, we saw, we conquered”. The greatness of the Irish Diaspora is that it came, it saw, it labored, it taught, but it did not conquer – it cared for the sick, it mentored the ambitions and it contributed to a concept of “the rule of law” of which everyone in this room can be both proud and is the beneficiary of Irish nuns, doctors, priests, Christian brothers, parsons, ordinary workers, educators, professors, and teachers carried our imperial arms everywhere in the world, and the pride that I get that my aunt was the Mother Superior of the Loreto nuns and is buried in Lucknow in India after 40 years of service there, is mirrored in the memory box of every person in this room today. We did not win an empire by force of arms; we built an empire of Irish people across this globe by force of integrity, education, morality, hard work and a commitment to “the rule of law.” The very first Premier of this great state of New South Wales was none other than the Irish born, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, and your Prime Minister, Mr. Kevin Rudd, told me yesterday that his wife’s name is Mary Cashin, from Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland.

Irish names, North and South, run down the roll of honor in war and peace in this country, and The Ireland Fund is a point of assembly that must continue both here in Australia, and throughout the world, as a force that showcases all that’s good in our ancestry, in our moral structure and in our beliefs.

At a time when terrorism and alien values, particularly based on active militancy, threaten the world, our Irish-Australian values require reaffirmation, and The Ireland Fund of Australia is one forum in which they can be articulated and celebrated.

I make no apology, therefore, for saying to you that The Ireland Fund must continue. And if it continues to raise money in reasonable quantities as it will, it should focus much of its attention on how the Irish in Australia can do good in Australia in the name of Ireland, as well as fostering issues such as integrated education in Northern Ireland as Charles Curran and Lady Mary Fairfax have so brilliantly illustrated with their gift of one million dollars, three years ago.

So, in that context, I would like to read you a most moving letter I received this week from one of your Governors, Peter Cosgrove:

Tony, I think the Australian Ireland Fund can do great work in both Australia and Northern Ireland; let me give you an example. Everyone at the dinner tonight will remember the horrific Bali bombings with the loss of 88 Australian lives in October 2002—it’s like what happened with the Omagh bomb in Northern Ireland.

Amongst those killed in Bali were two young boys from Ulladulla, Craig Dunn aged 18 and Danny Lewis aged 19. I would like to introduce you to Gayle Dunn, the mother of Craig, who will be with us at the dinner tonight. Since the loss of her son, Gayle has devoted her life to helping the youth in and around Ulladulla for the last 7 years. “Last year, Gayle went to Northern Ireland and visited 10 Ireland Fund projects for ideas and inspiration to apply back here in Australia; she found it a most inspiring trip and made many friendships with program directors in Northern Ireland.

This is a good example of exchanging knowledge and programs that we should develop further. I am hopeful from our conversations that the Ireland Fund can make that step to jointly contribute to both Australia and Ireland.
Thank you for listening.
- Peter Cosgrove

And I say to you . . . Amen to that. Let us recast and reinvigorate the future.

Finally, I cannot let an evening such as this go by without commenting on something which you must find as riveting as I do, and that is the intense excitement, and audience participation, in television, print and radio that the forces of democracy are getting in the United States’ elections due next November. By an exhausting process of elimination and recrimination, we have narrowed the field down to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the one side, and John McCain on the Republican side.

A talented and articulate white woman, a wonderfully educated African American, and a grizzled war veteran will contest a noble election next November. My belief is that the politics of hope and change exemplified by Barack Obama will contrast themselves with the son of an Admiral, the grizzled and intensely American John McCain, who is a war hero in Vietnam, was imprisoned for 4½ years, a man who was told by his captors after two years that he could leave, and refused to go until his men, too, were freed 2 years later. It is a noble choice, and we in this room, should be greatly encouraged that so many Americans are so excited about it.

McCain may have to abandon some of his more democratic beliefs to gain right wing Republican support because of the religious conservative right, if he is to win, but he is a fine and recognizable candidate.

On the other side, Obama will have to put “flesh” on messages that are as old as the republic of the United States itself. He says he will “restore America as a model place in the world.” He will stand up and say, “We are one nation; we are one people; and our time for change has come.” He has said brilliantly, “We are the ones we have been waiting for.” It is wonderful, ringing, heady stuff and the Americans currently love it.

Perhaps the rhetoric is drawn from the field of what I call “the school of American exceptionalism” – the belief that “America offers an important moral beacon in the world”. A writer recently said that “there is nothing inherently accident prone about “American exceptionalism”.

We need acceptable American leadership worldwide. For every Iraq war, there is Marshall Plan. For every Vietnam – remember World War I and II, and for older Australians here, (which excepts every single lady here tonight), there is the memory of the Battle of the Coral Sea which, in March 1942, probably saved Australia from invasions in World War II.

So, the world will watch and look and listen and learn, and we, as Australians, and we, as Irish people, and we, as observers of the great democracy of America, will rejoice that a contest of this nature can take place in America which will incontestably be a beacon for all of us, and reflect the moral and spiritual values of everyone in this room, which in themselves are the product of our education, our religion, our parents and, importantly, our Irish ancestry.

And finally, it is with some sense of privilege, that I thank you for listening to me tonight and allowing me reaffirm my absolute belief that The Ireland Fund that we founded 32 years ago in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is a light that shines for the Irish around the world. It stands for decency and generosity and concern and friendship at home and abroad. It stands for the best of the best.

In a world of dangerous militancy, organizations like The Australian Ireland Fund and the other Ireland Funds throughout the world were never more important to help reaffirm our sense of value, decency, compassion and justice.

Thank you all so much for being here this evening.

Charles Curran
Your Excellency Máirtín ÓFainín, Ambassador of Ireland to Australia, Sir Anthony and Lady O’Reilly, Ladies and Gentlemen,

“But what can I do?”  is a question that many of us have asked when observing serious social issues in the world and wondering how any one individual can make a difference.

Many Australians would have asked that question when considering the apparently insoluble problems relating to the lives of some of our Australian Aboriginal people.  The response by one person in January 2000, Gerard Neesham the former coach of the Fremantle Dockers AFL team, was to establish the Clontarf Foundation, which today operates nine academies in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, each of which operates in partnership with a school or college.  AFL football is used to attract teenage Aboriginal men to school and then keep them there, as to remain in the program participants must continue to work at school and embrace the objectives of the Foundation.  As well as delivering a football program, academy staff act as mentors to the students.

What can I do to prevent the apparently inevitable social upheaval and bloodshed following the dismantling of apartheid was a question that was answered by Nelson Mandela showing forgiveness and understanding after his 27 years of incarceration on Robben Island, as he provided political leadership in bringing peace and justice to South Africa.

What can I do about the extreme poverty in India and those disturbing images that are so confronting?  The answer by one person, the Albanian woman Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, went beyond what most people would do.  She devoted her life to the poorest of the poor and the world was inspired by the work of Mother Teresa.

What can I do in respect of the apparently implacable community division and political problems in Ireland was a question answered 1976 by two Irish-born men then working in Pittsburgh.  Tony O’Reilly and Dan Rooney established the Ireland Funds and provided generous financial support.

What can I do – what can we do – about the plight of children caught up in the violence of 1978 was the question posed by Mary Jo Murphy to her husband Donal, as they enjoyed a secure and successful life in New York.  Their response was to commence a program for such children which led to the establishment of Northern Ireland Children’s Enterprise, which is one of the many projects that the Australian Ireland Fund has supported, as has been recognised by the naming of their headquarters building in Belfast as Australia House. 

The last two examples of individual responses to the question “what can I do” led to the establishment of organisational frameworks which have enabled thousands of people around the world to make their individual response by supporting the work of the Ireland Funds, which now operate in fourteen countries. 

We in Australia recognise our strong linkage to Ireland, whether or not we have Irish heritage, in the knowledge that over one third of our Australian community does have that heritage.  Furthermore, we recognise the contribution that has been made by Ireland to learning and culture, over many hundreds of years.  We also have felt impelled to do what we can to bring to an end division in a civilised community which has resulted in 30,000 people dead and maimed over 30 years.

For many years of the operation of the Ireland Funds it was not possible to see significant progress being made towards peace, but we could see practical outcomes at the grass roots level, as we supported projects in the community. Today we know that our efforts have contributed to the development of the political framework for peace and the end to violence.  However, our work is not yet finished.  Deep divisions continue within the community in Ireland and many families bear scars from the loss of family members or physical injuries to other family members and as many families continue to harbour resentment and distrust that has developed over generations.  It will take several generations for that resentment and distrust to soften and disappear.

For your individual and generous response to the question “what can I do to assist with the problems in Ireland?” I thank you on behalf of the Australian Ireland Fund and on behalf of all those families in Ireland who have benefitted from the projects that we together have supported.