Higgins finds Paris match with UNESCO delegates
IT may not have been as earsplitting as the teenage acclaim directed at Justin Bieber in the O2 last weekend, but make no mistake, this was rapture a la mode UNESCO.
President Michael D Higgins was beginning the second day of his not-quite state visit to France (which makes it a semi-state visit presumably) with a keynote address to delegates from the 195 member states of UNESCO. It was scheduled to be a 35-minute speech, but Michael D – as is his wont – roamed from his script.
“I suggest that UNESCO cannot afford to fall into any dated pseudo-romantic trap of believing that devoting less resources to the broad cultural space is in any sense beneficial or constructive,” he said, adding “starving artists in attics may make for entertaining operatic librettos, but it is a destructive myth. Really, you do not need poverty for brilliance in art.”
The president also spoke of the urgent need for dialogue between different belief systems.
“The western world has neglected its conversation with modern Islam,” he said.
As he finished, the delegates surged to their feet in a prolonged standing ovation. There was even a bit of cheering. This, apparently, was unprecedented, as close to Bieber-fever as it gets in UN circles. And UNESCO director of services Dr Jennifer Pearson was chuffed.
“I have never seen a reaction like the reaction we had this morning. Normally when a president comes to speak, we listen with attention, but today people listened with passion, and almost as one they all got up and gave him a standing ovation. He made us deeply proud to be Irish today,” she said happily.
There was time for Michael D and wife Sabina to have a quick look at the stunning two walls created for UNESCO by Spanish artist Miro before heading off for his second engagement, a business lunch organised by the Irish embassy in the salubrious surroundings of private dining club Cercle De l'Union Interalliee.
Surrounded by business shakers and movers, Mr Higgins delivered an upbeat address. There was a good reason to be cheerful – France is Ireland's second-largest market for food and drinks, number one market for seafood and lamb, secondlargest market for beef, and third-largest for whiskey (nobody breathed a word about bringing horses to France and the like). And the lunch menu was almost a full Irish one, with Kenmare smoked salmon and Irish fillet steak and Irish cheeses such as Cashel Blue and Guinness Cheddar.
Ravenous
Introduced by the club's chairman, Comte de Kergolay, as “le conscience moral d'Europe”, the President talked about the recovery of the Irish economy. “It is my expectation that we will exit from our current arrangements with international institutions certainly within two years. I have no doubt that the economy you will see emerge over the next two years or so will be on a far more solid economic base,” he said.
Again, Michael D basked in warm applause. Then everyone tucked in. After all the speeches, the Irish contingent were ravenous. They could've eaten un petit cheval. Or perhaps not.