Senator Maurice Hayes, Chairman of The Ireland Funds in Ireland voted European Person of the Year

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REMARKS BY GERRY MAGUIRE,
CHAIRMAN OF EUROPE MOVEMENT
AT THE PRESENTATION CEREMONY OF THE
2003 EUROPEAN OF THE YEAR AWARD

Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, 16th February 2004

OPENING REMARKS

President, Lord Mayor, Your Excellencies, President and Members of the European Parliament, Ministers and Members of the Oireachtas, Distinguished Guests.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all, on behalf of the European Movement and on behalf of our very generous sponsors Aer Rianta, to the 2003 European of the Year Award presentation. We are both honoured and extremely pleased that President Mary McAleese could spare the time to be with us today to present the Award to the 2003 European of the Year.

Congratulations of course to all those who were nominated for this year’s Award. I think you will all agree with me that each of the six finalists is a winner in his or her own right. They all deserve our commendation for the excellent work they have been doing both for Ireland and for Europe.

The six finalists chosen by the Jury are-Brian Crowley and John Cushnahan, members of the European Parliament, Mary Davis, Chief Executive of the Special Olympics Committee, Senator Maurice Hayes, Chairman of the National Forum on Europe, Dr Miriam Hederman O’Brien, Chairperson of the European Cultural Foundation and Dick Roche, our first Minister of State for European Affairs. Congratulations again to these people and we are delighted to say that five of our finalists are with us today-Brian Crowley could not be with us.

The European of the Year Award was started by the European Movement sixteen years ago. The idea behind this Award was and is to express our appreciation to those of our citizens who have made outstanding contributions to the ideal that European countries and more importantly citizens should work together. There is no doubt that the nominations we received for this Award show that there are many Irish people who are making and will continue to make important contributions to this ideal.

The impact of the Award can be seen in the highly distinguished audience we have here today. We are honoured to have Ambassadors and Diplomats from Member and soon-to-be Member States of the EU and from many other countries, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Royston Brady, our 2002 European of the Year, President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, former Taoisigh Dr Garret Fitzgerald and Albert Reynolds and a number of our former winners.

Many efforts are being made at the moment to bring the European Union closer to the citizen, to create a better understanding among citizens of the values, objectives and of course actions of the European Union. At this moment, during the Irish Presidency of the Union, attempts are being made to consolidate these efforts, through the introduction of a Constitutional Treaty for the European Union-a Treaty which would be understandable to the citizens of Europe. This, we can only imagine, is a difficult task and we wish our Government well in its endeavors to reach agreement between the EU Member States on this Treaty. We can however assure them that, judging from the nominations we received for this year’s Award, many Irish people are working with them to build this common future for Europe and for Europeans.

We are delighted with Aer Rianta’s tremendous support for this Award and of course their sponsorship, without which today’s event could not take place-so a special word of thanks to Noel Hanlon, Margaret Sweeney and Oliver Cussen. It is also our pleasure to welcome Siobhan Moore this year as the first Aer Rianta member of the Award’s Board of Adjudicators.

Finally, may I again say that we are delighted that our President, who has represented this country with such distinction both at home and abroad is here today to enhance the prestige of this Award. I would now ask you President to address us and announce this year’s European of the Year.

CLOSING REMARKS

Congratulations to Maurice. The European Movement is proud to add your name to its list of distinguished winners of this Award. The Forum on Europe has, due to your dedication and leadership, been a tremendous positive force in enlightening and enthusing a large cross section of Irish society. Long may your work for and your dedication to this cause continue.

Once again Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to say that without the wonderful support of Aer Rianta, the European of the Year Award would hardly happen. A special Thank You to Noel Hanlon and his team. We look forward to working with you all again in the future.

Thank you also to all those involved in making today happen-the nominators, the media, and particularly the Board of Adjudicators for their dedication to the difficult task of judging the large number of nominations.

This year is a very special year for the European Movement as we have reached our 50th year in existence. The Movement was founded in 1954 by such enthusiastic Europeans as Dr Garret Fitzgerald and Professor Louis Smith, both of whom are with us today. The Movement’s objective during those fifty years has always been to encourage Irish citizens to participate in and understand the European project. The biggest celebration of our anniversary will take place on the night of our Europe Day Gala Ball, on Saturday, 8th May. Our Guest of Honour on the night will be Dr Fitzgerald, one of our founding members. I hope that many of you here today will join us in our celebration on that night.

Once again, congratulations to our winner, Senator Maurice Hayes. May you continue to encourage us in our work by your example.

I would like to thank you our guests for being with us today and hope you enjoy your lunch.

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