Peter Burke, Minister, Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: Mayor Zohran, our counsel general, commissioner, [and] former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson: It's a real honor to be here this morning in Gracie Mansion to celebrate one of the most incredible relationships on earth, and that is the Irish-US relationship. And no better city to do just that than New York City, here in the heart of Manhattan. When you look back over the generations, the connection, the huge amount of culture that we have shared together, I mentioned [at] many events this week that the Atlantic Ocean, even though it separates us, has acted like a bridge for generations, bringing our songs, our music, our traditions, [and] our hopes and dreams over and back right across the Atlantic Ocean.
When you consider in New York City so many Irish people who came here right throughout the generations, who built up this great city, helped form key parts of the infrastructure, [and] in the political life, we know how many Irish-Americans have been involved really in delivering public service to this great city. And that's why it's such a privilege to get the opportunity to really celebrate that relationship today.
Really looking forward to taking part in the Saint Patrick's Day parade, the 265th parade, again, which really celebrates everything it means about the relationship. When you think about America 250, which obviously celebrates the Declaration of Independence, three of the 56 signatories were born on the island of Ireland. One of the things I really wanted to do this week is celebrate the most important thing, our people.
We've been to so many different Irish centers right around the city, which [are] critically supporting communities. One thing Ireland does is support all communities. That really is a key for a country like ours that leans into the globe, that's very firm and compassionate, and that works and supports all communities right across the spectrum. And that, to me, means what it is to be Irish. I want to really acknowledge President Robinson and the great work that you have done in human rights, which is very important from our perspective, which is critical. Which is so important, and just to acknowledge all the exceptional work.
And finally, to say that it is so important to recognize that this relationship is really delivering for communities, because how you deliver for communities critically is [by giving] them an opportunity to realize their ambition in life. And when you see so many good, high-quality jobs being created [in] both jurisdictions, I can come over here and say as Irish Enterprise Minister that we are now employing over 200,000 people right across the 50 states in the US, and that this week our agency and my department have announced $6.1 billion of investment over the next four years, just with three Irish companies.
And the top ten Irish companies now employ 450,000 people globally, and again, a huge amount in the US. And equally, the partnership delivers back home with so many Irish companies, working with American companies and so many jobs being created. So, it's a relationship that we protect, that will endure, that we work to support, and it's a great honor to be an Irish Minister [and] to celebrate this great day here at Gracie Mansion with the mayor. Go raibh maith agat.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, everyone. And welcome to Gracie Mansion. I am proud to announce the first public event we've had here as I stand before you as the new mayor of our city. So, before I begin, I would like to acknowledge a few members of our administration. We have our first deputy mayor, Dean Fuleihan, who's here with us. We have Ali Najmi, the chair of the Mayor's Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. We have our Commissioner of International Affairs, Ana Maria Archila.
We have with us City Council woman Virginia Maloney. And our esteemed former Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. We have our former Council Member, Danny Dromm. And we also have my former colleague, former Assembly Member Mike Cusick. It is truly such a pleasure to mark this holiday with each of you.
And it is such a privilege to be joined by a leader who I know we all, as well as millions more in Ireland and countless others across the world, have looked to for leadership and for wisdom, who has made solidarity into a living, breathing thing. Please join me in a round of applause for former President Mary Robinson. Thank you for being here, truly.
As we celebrate Saint Patrick's Day, I return to the words of the Apostle of Ireland himself, a man who arrived in Ireland in captivity. In the 5th century in what we now know as Ireland, a British warlord named Coroticus had laid waste to the countryside. St. Patrick implored the soldiers responsible to stop. Overcome by grief, he wrote, all I can do is what is written, “Weep with those who weep.” To weep with those who weep is no small act. It is a choice, one that often requires sacrifice, a subjugation of the self, [and] a material exertion.
I can think of no better way to describe President Robinson's leadership, the solidarity the people of Ireland have shown with the downtrodden and the forgotten, and the legacy of Irish New Yorkers. I want to begin with President Robinson, the first woman to serve as president of Ireland. There is a weight that comes with being first, a weight of expectation, a weight of blazing a path without precedent, [and] a weight of symbolism, which can so often become all-encompassing. And yet, President Robinson's legacy is far more than simply a symbolic one. It is a legacy of action, it is a legacy of justice, [and] it is a legacy of measurable, lasting change.
I think of the humanity President Robinson extended towards the LGBTQIA+ community when she decriminalized homosexuality in Ireland. It was an act of immense leadership, one that demanded vast political will. I think of her lifetime commitment to climate action, which you may see here embodied by the pin that she has now put on me, and her refusal to flinch from how the fight against the climate crisis is fundamentally a fight for justice.
And I think of so much more — how she transformed the lives of so many Irish women at every stage of her career, how she advocated for workers, [and] how she fought for reproductive rights, and I think also of how she stood steadfast alongside the people of Palestine. I say this as over the past few years, as we've witnessed a genocide unfold before our eyes, there has been deafening silence from so many.
For those who have long cared about universal human rights and the extension of them to Palestinians, silence, however, is nothing new, for Palestinians are so often left to weep alone. Yet former President Robinson has never been silent, not when she was president, not when she was High Commissioner for Human Rights, and not in the decades since. As she once said, commemoration is a moral act. Her solidarity is many things — unwavering, sincere and chief among them, Irish. Irish solidarity is no coincidence.
Who can better understand those who weep than those who have been made to weep for so long? The story of the Irish, both in Ireland and in New York City, is at one time a story of oppression, of subjugation, and of discrimination. As we know, it was on Irish soil that the British Empire developed their colonial project. So much of the exploitation later imposed elsewhere across the world was first homed in the plantations of Ireland. And yet when I think of the Irish, I do not think first of oppression. I think of resistance. I think of unity. I think of corned beef and 96-minute Troy Parrott goals, and the Pogues' Fairytale of New York.
Above all, I think of that solidarity. When Irish immigrants arrived in New York City, they were so often barred from employment and from housing. Signs plastered across storefronts read, “Help Wanted. No Irish Need Apply.” And yet while Irish New Yorkers were, in the poetry of Eavan Boland, long suffering in the bruised-colored dusk of the new world, [and] they did not grow discouraged. They banded together. They organized. They formed labor movements that endure to this day.
It was Irish hands that helped to build so much of the city that we recognize today. The skyscrapers that pierce clouds, the tunnels carved through bedrock. And we can see an example of that legacy in the incredible labor leaders that we have with us today, both in this room and beyond this room. And as we celebrate Saint Patrick's Day together, and as I belatedly acknowledge our State Senator Brian Kavanagh as well, we celebrate not just a day of revelry, but a day of continued obligation to one another, to a better world, [and] to all those who still — weep.
And I want to thank President Robinson again for joining us. I want to thank the people of Ireland who have taken a past of suffering and used it to fight for a future of justice. And I want to thank every Irish New Yorker for helping make this city into what it is today. Now, it is my honor to present a proclamation honoring President Robinson. Thank you.
Former Irish President Mary Robinson: Thank you, Mayor Mamdani, for your warm words, your generous welcome, and this proclamation, which I will treasure. And it's also for all you do in public service. It's an honor to be here on Saint Patrick's Day. Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh go léir. Saint Patrick's Day is known around the world as a celebration of Irish culture, music and laughter. And yes, the Irish know how to celebrate, but we also know how to hold joy in one hand and sorrow in the other.
While we gather to wish each other good health, we know others are living under the shadow of war and suffering in Iran, in Lebanon, in Palestine, in Ukraine, in Sudan, and [in the] Democratic Republic of Congo and in too many other places. For many Irish people, these realities resonate deeply, as the mayor has said. Our own history holds memories of famine, exile, and conflict.
Perhaps because of that, many recognize echoes of Ireland's past in the suffering of others today, in the pain of displacement, and [in] the enduring human longing for dignity, justice and self-determination. We also mark Women's History Month, where we're reminded that courage has often meant speaking when others are forced into silence. Not everyone has the safety, access or privilege to raise their voices.
But those of us who do must use it wisely and stand steady with one another. Like trees in a forest, we shelter each other when the winds grow strong and offer one another light when the way forward feels dark. This is captured in the old Irish proverb, is “Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine.” It is in each other's shelter that we flourish. And Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reminds us that our rights are realized not alone, but in our duties to the community.
We gather during a sacred season for many. Muslims are observing Ramadan, Christians Lent, and Jewish communities are nearing the close of the month of Adar. These traditions invite reflection, humility, and compassion. Yet we are also seeing divisions deepen along lines of ethnicity and faith. Divisions that ultimately serve no one.
Mayor Mamdani, last week you spoke about the spirit needed in this great city when faced with such divisions. You said, “We are here in the city we love, and we are enough.” I would echo that sentiment beyond New York City. We are whole in our shared humanity and in our belonging to one another. In community, we are enough. What is called for now is community, not the division and domination we are seeing far too often.
What is needed instead is the deeper moral courage to stand on the side of peace, defend human dignity and resolutely refuse despair. That courage lives in ordinary people. It lived in those in Ireland who, through long years of conflict, refused hatred and held fast to the belief that peace was still possible. And it lives now in those who keep faith that a better, more just world is still possible. And perhaps that's the truest spirit of St. Patrick's Day, that even in troubled times, people still gather together, still lift their voices, [and] still choose hope. Thank you very much.
Mayor Mamdani: Can we hear it once more, the former president and minister. Truly. So, I want to say once again, thank you to each and every person for being here. There's no one else that I would rather not be able to have a breakfast with, as it's Ramadan. But it is truly a pleasure to have all of you here and to know that this too is your home, not just in terms of Gracie Mansion, but also in terms of New York City. The city is all the better for the ocean being made into a bridge, and we are so thankful for the contributions of Irish Americans, not just to the past of this city [and] the present of this city, but frankly to the future of this city.
And it is a privilege to be able to look across to the people of Ireland and to find inspiration in what that future could look like. So, thank you to an incredible leader. Thank you to everyone for being here. I will come around and just say thank you [from] myself to each and every one of you. Thank you.
###