PROSPECTS OF IRELAND

[Music] o [Music] the noblest share of Earth is the Far Western World whose name is written Scotia in the ancient books rich in Goods in silver Jewels cloth and gold benign to the body in air and mellow soil with honey and with milk flow Ireland's lovely Plains with silk and arms abundant fruit with art and Men worthy are the Irish to dwell in this their land a race of men renowned in war in peace in faith Bishop donatus in Italy writing admiringly of his Ireland in the 9th century of the Christian era today 1100 stormy years later it is to Ireland that the admiring people travel from England Scotland and Wales the journey is easy seink has five routes from four ports of departure everyone able to cope with both passengers and cars no passports needed for British visitors either to the republic or to Northern Ireland no difficulties about currency or about [Music] language for visitors from across the Atlantic no problems either and however you look at it Islands on your way on your way to England or Scotland or Wales or to Europe or on your way back from these n [Music] these are the sea Roots all drive on drive off stran RAR just over 2 hours haian Belfast 7 hours by night in a day service in summer Holly head Dublin a little more than 3 hours fishguard Ros Lair 3 and a/4 hours haam Dublin a new Route 7 hours international airports at Belfast Dublin Shannon and CK and when you get here what's so special about the place empty roads and empty beaches say some and it's true but as your man said some come to take a holiday and some to make a holiday whatever he meant by that [Music] forget to bring your car there's a pretty girl on the key you can hire one from so in no time at all you're a way to the golf scks the game of striking the small hard ball is played throughout Ireland in such a variety of scenery with such exasperatingly tempting holes and Hazards on 230 courses at the last count and as a visitor you're welcome to every one of them and it's not expensive either [Music] and what if you can't tell the 19th from a hole in the ground then look up to the Horizon and begin your Irish travels at once choose your own vehicle push slowly and gently out along the quiet roads and in a leisurely way keep your eyes open until you see the next [Music] thing what will you see what will you find a country of Life lived close to the Sea the soil the rain the sunshine and the wind a country that's had its rough times yes that's true but with invasions Wars famines rebellions and Oliver Cromwell Lord protector of England through the generations Ireland's young men have gone to fight in Foreign Wars for as George Meredith said is Ireland gives England her soldiers her generals too they've gone abroad to labor on canals Railways tubes skyscrapers to build the new world now from that roaring world people turned to Ireland for tranquility to fresh their bodies and Minds by contact with the elemental realities of Life come on5 78 75 75 75 43 2 [Music] 75 a country of pasture and dairying of milk and butter and beef and if you want to start a conversation just mention the price of beef a country where the tractor is only now taking over from the horse a seabound country with men born to the fishing and all of that means work from dawn to dusk amongst the dung and the [Applause] guts but also a gracious country where natural rhythms Prevail where life still has a comprehensible Pace a country where there's concern to preserve the best of the traditional crafts and skills and hand them down the [Music] generations thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] a country that missed the Industrial Revolution the bad as well as the good of it and still an unspoiled country slow to [Music] change la [Music] but as changes come there are efforts part of an international movement to capture in living folk museums The Familiar ways of daily work and Leisure before they imperceptibly leak away into Oblivion good morning good morning may I have it yes love you can have a lucky horseshoe with your initials on it and mind you keep it the right way up or the luck will run out the water wheel drives a spade Mill of the middle of the 19th century moved here Stone by Stone from its original site and lovingly put into operation again the plers family were Spade makers who owned this Mill for five generations [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] in the museum Cottages our beloved objects which are not so very old that's not the point they belong to a way of life which is rooted in Antiquity they are living links with the past [Music] the past lives too in castles manions and great houses but the story of Ireland as revealed by her architecture is not a conventional rags to riches story for on the whole the great houses are symbols of an alien concept of life superimposed upon the innate life of the land but they and their foreign born Builders and owners quite quickly adapted to the life of the country and became absorbed by it today the great houses of the land owners are changing their purposes many of them in the care of the national trusts or directly through their owners are open for us to admire others again set in their spreading domains are now hotels offering luxury and Leisure they're warm with the wayward charm that drifts over Ireland like an Enchanted Mist motels are modern convenient practical and make few demands on the tourist in transit there are no strict meal times there's plenty of provision for doit yourself and don't forget to admire the Morning View as you wait for the tea to draw what we farmhouses provide a simpler life the prices are low the owner's hospitable and your kids mix happily with the chickens or you can pitch your own tent choose your own Cottage Park your Caravan or rent one that's there already bring your sleeping bag and live rough if you like but nearby you'll find the washing machine your wife screams for after a few days of the simple life of the open road and a point for your shaver right that's the Creature Comforts attended to now how else are you going to amuse yourselves do you want to take more water with [Music] [Music] it Ireland's your place surrounded by see and punched with legs so why not make the wet best of the Eternal presence of the water nobody's stopping you and if you're a beginner at this line or that then there's no one like the Irishman to make the most encouraging noises you ever heard in all your life [Music] sharks it's bloody murder really and nothing worth cooking in the end come ashore and go for the salmon or the trout hundreds of miles of rivers and Mountain Streams thousands of lakes you do best to take local advice about the licenses and close Seasons but anyone in the hotel or the pub will help you as for Co fishing the Irish have never gone in for it and don't see the point so there are all over the country lakes and streams that have never been fished more water for you well so long as you don't despise The Malt Cadet class dingies kids are so expert these days they'd sail the scuppers out of their fathers and uncles [Music] are you still traveling playing or idling or picnicking or walking in the forest Parks following a chance clue to a new thing to wonder at for [Music] so what if the old bird has spent the afternoon drinking at the Bailey he's in Good Company the horse the Irish horse commanding the total devotion of his willing servants carrying on his back the aspirations of thousands of wouldbe show jumpers the hopes of generations of punters all over the world nothing praise be will ever replace the Irish horse but if you insist upon wagering on other sports you can find all sorts of competition for your money [Music] [Applause] get not inish free but peace to be had here too moed by a lake [Music] Isle are you still journeying then let your Cruiser nose amongst the Reeds so that can explore the Irish past for more than 500 years Ireland was the center of Christian Learning piety and art here grew and flourished the monasteries at devonish Clon mcno glendel Castel founded in the fifth and sixth centuries flowering triumphing sending their Scholars and their Saints deep into Europe of the Dark Ages through all the times of the Viking Raiders the round Towers we Crick our necks at today were belfre in peace and refuge in raids through to the 12th century long after the first coming of the anglo-norman Invaders the Celtic monasteries grew in glory and learning like Rome reborn peopled sanctuaries devoting many lifetimes to the copying and Illuminating of books to the intricate patterning in stone of the Celtic crosses to the preservation and spread of the only sort of scholarship there was in the Western World till slowly and magnificently the Renaissance brightened the sky of man's mind all this elaboration of work in penmanship Iron Stone and precious metals which we group as Celtic spans a Time twice as long as the time from the Voyages of Christopher Columbus to the time of the first men on the [Music] moon the faith that built the monasteries and the oratories still shows itself to day in church architecture and art which manifests the 20th century of Christianity but the newest church or the oldest Celtic cross are both young beside the things made by the men of the ancient days men it is thought first came here about 8,000 years ago in the Middle Stone Age after the ice had withdrawn northward toward the pole they built megalithic Graves they left a few Flint implements they learned to mine and to work gold they began to farm [Music] land in 6,000 years or so three times the span of time from the birth of Christ till today they saw the Stone Age out and the Bronze Age in and in turn all men are young and their works are puny beside the works of nature the Giants Causeway 40,000 Bassel columns built of course by Finn mul as the first stepping stone to Scotland to carry on a war with his enemy final who lived in fingal's cave across the water in the time of the Legends but leave the Legends now and come on Lama's day to the fair of the first fruits boys were you ever there were you ever at the fair and Valley did you treat your Mar yellow the here as everywhere you'll find the strongest thing stronger far than the Stout of the whiskey the people of Ireland the dealers and the farmers the craftswomen and the Carin and the fishwives the priests and the Cur all of them close kin to Daniel oconnell Charlo Stewart Parnell James Joyce and George Bernard Shaw to Lady Gregory and wbat who created the Irish National Theater to Brendan and all the beans to Oscar wild sha o Casey and Barbara Mullen from the Aon Islands to miall mcore of the Dublin Gate Theater to Louis MCN and CS Lewis and to JP Dunley the Wild Ginger Man close kin to these and hundreds more writers poets artists revolutionaries Scholars actors wits talkers imbibers even to that barister who lived they say in the O of the Oxo advertisement at Lincoln place in dear dirty elegant Dublin worthy are the Irish to dwell in this their land a race of men renowned in war in peace in faith [Music] [Music] for okay