Speech by His Excellency Ambassador Vidmantas Purlys at the farewell luncheon at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Iveagh House, 16 July 2014
Minister Flanagan,
Minister Deenihan,
Dean of the Diplomatic Corps Archbishop Brown,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear guests,
On behalf of departing ambassadors, I would like to express our appreciation to the Minister Flanagan for hosting this luncheon. Also, I would like to thank you, Minister, for your kind and encouraging words.
It was a great honour to serve my country in Ireland over the last five years. I took my position in Dublin in August 2009. This was a challenging time for Ireland in the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis. It was also a difficult period for Europe. It was important that Ireland and the EU were committed to addressing the situation together. We diplomats followed very closely the developments in Ireland in this regard. We saw the resolve of the Irish government in taking necessary steps of reform, and the constructive attitudes of the Irish people. These efforts were highly commended in Europe and beyond. They paid off as manifested by the exit from the EU-IMF programme last December.
Over the last number of years, Ireland also made an important contribution in advancing positive international agendas, as chairman in office of OSCE, Presidency of the Council of the EU and member of the UN Human Rights Council, to mention but a few examples. Ireland was very active on the international scene. We could witness and appreciate that first hand in Dublin.
Professionally for me, it was a rewarding time. But our work is not only about official matters. May be the most important of all was the opportunity to know the Irish people, Ireland’s society and culture. The depth of our engagement at this level is very well demonstrated by the presence of our Irish friends today. I am so grateful that you could join this afternoon. I think that I can speak also for my colleagues about our shared admiration of friendliness, warmness, openness and hospitality of the Irish people.
I would like say a special thank you to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, also the Department of the Taoiseach and other government departments for their continuously good co-operation, advice and support during our tenure in Ireland.
