"Let me finish where I started in Cork with the poet Seán Ó Ríordáin who wrote:
Níl áit, níl sruth, níl sceach,
Dá iargúlta iad, níl leac,
Bídís thuaidh, thoir, thiar nó theas,
Nár cheart dúinn machnamh ar a
suíomh,
Le gean is le báidhíocht;
Dá fhaid uainn Afraic Theas,
Dá airde í gealach,
Is cuid dínn iad ó cheart:
Níl áit ar fuaid na cruinne
Nach ann a saolaíodh sinne.
There isn't a place, a stream, a hedge nor a stone,
No matter how remote,
Be it north, south, east or west,
For which we should not have regard for its situation,
With affection and kindred feeling;
No matter how far away South Africa might be,
No matter how high the moon,
They are part of what we are;
There is nowhere in this world
Where we were not born.
The late great Seán Ó Ríordáin espoused such Green thinking."
- Trevor Sargent TD, 14th May 2005.
