Olivia O'Leary Speech. British Queen Elizabeth visit Ireland

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What a breath of fresh air Olivia O'Leary was. Showing how you can be respectful without pretending to be something you are not, or acting. Olivia O'Leary showed you can acknowledge a difficult relationship without fantasy or false pretence.
We have no shortage of false individuals representing us before, such as Gay Byrne and Sir Bob Geldof who just can't bow low enough when British Royalty approaches. Sweet and sour fantasy people like them embarrass the Irish Republic as nation, their sickly acting for self-gain is enough to grumble a healthy appendix.
Considering those two creeps, what a delightful breath of fresh air Olivia O'Leary was.
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Olivia O'Leary made it clear we are Irish Republican citizens, not looking to be subjects of any monarchy.
For all of our faults, we Irish are still proud of many of our achievements and nationality. Olivia O'Leary Speech reminded us that we should not be so hard of ourselves. We should keep in mind how others view us, how most other people in the world view us. World opinion would generally cast a much kinder eye to us Irish than most, and state far less significant faults than they would towards the British.
We should also remember that many of the institutions that have failed us - were inherited from empire. The Banking system and most of the failed banks were British in origin.
We have no need to imitate anyone else in Europe, or ever fake our own character and personality just to fit in, least of all with the British.
We Irish view the Queen as a celebrity, she is famous. The British Queen does not represent English or British people to us. No one is going to stop and stare at any regular British tourist, and this celebrity visit will not change much in personal attitudes. Those will still be individual and personal.
We have always welcomed nice people, no matter where they were from. Ignorant or arrogant English and British, like any other nationality will still get the cold shoulder here.
The Queen is a world famous celebrity and this time, we have used her - as a guest - to highlight how friendly and genuine we Irish can be.
Olivia O'Leary Speech. British Queen Elizabeth visit Ireland

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The speech by O'Leary, a veteran broadcaster who has been a familiar face and voice on the RTE airwaves for well over three decades, proved the stand-out moment of the visit of the British Queen to Ireland.

The full text of the speech is as follows:

"We were a little bit worried about the curtsy. I met a Government minister in the last few days who was up to high dough. “I will not curtsy”, she said between gritted teeth, “I will not”. A sigh of relief went around official female Ireland when it was revealed that only the Queen’s own subjects are expected to curtsy. Because, for those of us who live in the Irish Republic, after all, the bowing of the knee has massive symbolism, as once did the playing of the British national anthem on Irish soil.

During the visit of the Queen’s great-grandfather, Edward VII, over a hundred years ago, my grandfather and his friend, medical students at the then Catholic University medical school, lay on top of the organ in Trinity College in order to stop the playing of God Save the King. And, for their pains, according to my mother they were thrown in jail for a whole night.

So, hearing the same British national anthem played so often over the last few days by our army bands, hearing an Irish army officer call a guard of honour to attention don Bhanríon Eilis, there was a frisson, a sense of something old being laid to rest and something new beginning.

Yes, of course we’re talking only about symbols, but think of international rugby matches, and think of John Hayes - Ireland’s 19 stone tight-head prop, known as The Bull - sobbing his way through the Irish national anthem, and ask yourself about the power of symbols.

And remember too, as I do, that only 20 years ago Irish presidents never visited Britain, never attended the Memorial Day service. The shadow of the north of Ireland hung over the relationship until successive Irish and British premiers realised that if you could cement the British-Irish relationship you could start to bring peace to the north of Ireland. And nobody, I think, will mind if I mention one particular name on the day that’s in it. Dr Garret FitzGerald, who died today (long applause), who spent his life opening doors for us to Europe, to the north of Ireland and to Britain, and whose legacy we can see all around us during these historic few days.

Presidents Robinson and McAleese did their bit, as did Queen Elizabeth, and this week’s visit is a symbol of how far they’ve brought us, but also maybe how far we still have to go. Because, we’re delighted to see the Queen but she’ll probably never really know. She’ll never know how much because we’re so determined still, maybe even metaphorically, not to curtsy (laughter). We want to be friends, but oh, we don’t want to be seen in any way to bow the knee.

The post-box that I post my letters in, in Dun Laoghaire, has only a thin green coat of paint over the old red crown. We’re still so sensitive. And yet here’s a petite smiling woman with her tall husband, a grandmother, paying respect to our traditions, from the moment she stepped off the plane in her wonderful green outfit, making her way valiantly around all the symbols of our shared past, our shared present, in an attempt to build a friendship of equals. She made it seem so very normal and our president, for anyone worried about unseemly deference, gave her a welcome which was very warm and very Irish and very proud (applause).

And of course the symbolism of this visit is massive because this is the Queen whose face is on the British stamps and the coins and the banknotes, suddenly alive to us in Croke Park and the Garden of Remembrance and Islandbridge, cautiously viewing a pint of Guinness (laughter), pronouncing in that inimitable voice her cupla focail.

At the train station this morning people were chatting on the platform about her speech, about how she got the ‘h’ just right in ‘a chairde’. Already, on a rock station in Dublin, they’re running her voice saying ‘agus a chairde’ as a jingle. This could be big (laughter).

But she’s more than a symbol. She’s the Queen that most of us have known most of our lives. She’s the woman who loves and knows horses as we do, and who met trainers and jockeys and horses at the National Stud today, as she will at Coolmore tomorrow. And who for years rode side-saddle herself at the Trooping of the Colour as we waited, fascinated, to see if she might fall off. But she never did (laughter). The Queen does not slip.

So, it wasn’t just any Queen. This is the Queen we wanted to come. Not just for what she represents, but for herself. As she passed by yesterday, she waved at one excited youngster who I think caught the mood for all of us. “It’s the Queen!” she said. 'Oh my God, it’s the actual Queen!'"

Olivia O'Leary
From Wikipedia
Olivia O'Leary
Born 1949 (age 61–62)
Nationality Irish
Education University College Dublin
Occupation Journalist, writer and current affairs presenter
Olivia O'Leary (born 1949) is an Irish journalist, writer and current affairs presenter.
Educated at St Leo's College, Carlow and at University College Dublin, she worked with the Nationalist and Leinster Times in Carlow. In the late 1970s she began working for The Irish Times as parliamentary sketchwriter.
In 1972 she joined Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) as a current affairs presenter and later worked as a presenter on Today Tonight and Questions and Answers. She became the first regular female senior presenter of the BBC's current affairs programme, Newsnight and also presented First Tuesday, a monthly documentary strand produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV.
O'Leary won three Jacob's Awards during her broadcasting career with RTÉ. Her first came in 1973 for her work as a radio news reporter. In 1982, she won her second Jacob's Award for her hosting of Today Tonight. Her chairing of Questions and Answers brought her a third award in 1986. She has also won a Sony Award for her BBC Radio 4 programme Between Ourselves.
She has co-authored the book Mary Robinson: The Authorised Biography, with Dr. Helen Burke, and in 2004 wrote Politicians and Other Animals, a sketch on Irish politics.
She was Chairperson of the Office of the Ombudsman's 20th Anniversary Conference.
She was married to Paul Tansey, Economics Editor of the Irish Times. He died suddenly in September 2008. She has one daughter, Emily Tansey.
Olivia O'Leary Speech. British Queen Elizabeth visit Ireland

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Olivia O'Leary Speech. British Queen Elizabeth visit Ireland

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