President Michael D
Higgins' address during a visit to the restored
Carrickabraghy (O’Doherty) Castle on Friday,
September 12, 2014.
WHILE it is always a great pleasure to visit the
county of Donegal I am particularly delighted today
to have the opportunity to come to Inishowen and
visit the community here in this beautiful place.]
As I was travelling up through the peninsula this
morning, I was reminded of the words of the
sixteenth century bard, Tadhg Dall Ó hUiginn,
writing about the fiefdom of John O’Doherty, Lord of
Inishowen:
‘Parthas Eireann is ainm dhi,
an eang thire atá aige;’
(‘The Paradise of Ireland is the name
For that stretch of land which is his’)
I would like, therefore, to thank the Carrickabraghy
Restoration Society for their kind invitation to
take part in this important landmark event.
I would also like to thank the children and the
staff of Rashenny National School who have provided
the guard of honour this morning. I know you are
celebrating the 175th anniversary of the founding of
your school today and I am delighted to be here to
mark that occasion also.
Today we celebrate, not just the preservation of a
significant historical building, but also a moment
of reconnection with the past and with a legacy that
binds you all as members of this community. The
conservation of Carrickabraghy Castle - which stores
so much of your heritage in its walls and holds such
a wealth of information on the background and
circumstances which have shaped this community –
provides an authentic link between contemporary
Inishowen and its rich and varied history.
During my time as President I have been very
impressed by the examples I have seen, in
communities across the country to access, preserve
and make available the riches of their shared
heritage; of a real desire to retain the social and
historical identity which lies at the heart of so
many communities. Too often in the past, in our
impatience for the new and the ephemeral, we have
ignored historic preservation and its significance
to contemporary society, allowing it to be subsumed
in the desire to modernise, and seek change in an
increasingly global and technological age.
In present times we have become more aware of the
consequences of destroying much of the historic
nucleus at the heart of our towns and cities. We
understand the enormous loss to our social and
historical identity when we fail to preserve and
even restore such important treasures as churches,
schoolhouses, ancient dwellings, which not only
remind us of our relationship with the past, but
also help us to comprehend the nature of the
societies which they served, and the lives of those
who built them and used their space.
There can, of course, be no doubt as to the historic
importance of Carrickabraghy Castle, a building
rooted in a pre-viking age Ireland and one which has
witnessed many important chapters in our national
history. It includes the Viking raids from the 9th
century; the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th
century, which of course spelled the beginning of
the end of the long domination of Inishowen by the
MacLochlainn dynasty; and the ill-fated rebellion
that would bring to an end O’Doherty’s rule and that
of the last Gaelic Lord of Inishowen.
Since 1665, and following the suppression of Sir
Cahir Roe’s rebellion, Carrickabraghy Castle has
stood sadly abandoned and, as is well known, began a
slow decline which lasted for several centuries.
As we gather today at a now stabilised Castle which
has been preserved and rejuvenated for future
generations, we as a nation owe an enormous debt of
gratitude to the McGlinchey Association’s Summer
School whose lecture series revived interest in this
valuable part of our national heritage, and to the
Carrickabraghy Restoration Society who have worked
tirelessly for several years to save the castle and
its historical legacy.
The commitment and dedication of the Restoration
Society and the community here in the Isle of Doagh
is an inspiring example of what can be achieved when
citizens come together in a spirit of common
purpose, bound together by their respect and
appreciation for the remnants of the past while
united in a desire to leave their own important
legacy to be enjoyed and understood by future
generations.
May I thank and commend all those who have supported
this project through the years; a project which
allows us to better understand where we as a people
have come from and how we can use our rich heritage
to craft a future Ireland of which we can be proud.
This is especially true in this very historical
corner of Ireland and it would be remiss of me to
let this occasion pass without making reference to
the historical significance of events that will be
taking place in Dublin on Sunday week. As President
of Ireland I cannot take sides in contests between
counties; but as someone who has long argued for the
redistribution of resources, can I just say that
there is a good case that some counties might be
more deserving of another All-Ireland than others.
Go raibh mile maith agaibh go leir. |
