Irish president visits campus

Irish student Alan Noonan came to The University of Montana to study and write a master’s thesis about how his forefathers helped settle Big Sky Country.

He never suspected the leader of his country would follow him.

Mary McAleese, the president of Ireland, brought the Emerald Isle and Treasure State closer together May 16 when she spoke in a packed University Theatre about the historical and cultural ties linking the two regions. She also helped launch UM’s new Irish Studies Program and attended a reception with members of the local Irish community.

“This is fantastic,” Noonan said as he watched his president speak. “What an opportunity for somebody like me being a student here. The Irish community had a huge impact on the history of Montana, and I think this visit accentuates it and brings it into the open. I think it’s great.”

In his introductory remarks, UM President George Dennison said, “The establishment of the Irish Studies Program at this University will provide scholarship, research and friendship and will goad us into developing our understanding and familiarity with Irish language, literature, history and culture.”

Bolstered by several standing ovations, McAleese said there was “a lovely synchronicity” involved with her visit, since it was exactly 100 years ago that Douglas Hyde — an Irish-language scholar who later would become Ireland’s first president — came to Montana and discovered Irish settlers who had lovingly protected their language and culture. This was at a time when the Gaelic tongue had almost been eradicated at home, so McAleese honored those pioneers for helping preserve the language.

“There seems to be a kind of hand of history at work here,” McAleese said. “It’s no mere accident that we inaugurate a program of Irish studies whose hand and its heart are focused on the Irish language.”

She said her country provided UM with $40,000 to help start the Irish Studies Program, which is one of the first programs of its kind west of the Mississippi. She also lauded Terry O’Riordan, a UM Gaelic language instructor from Ireland and a University College Cork graduate, for his work to help create the unique program.

Initially UM will offer a minor in Irish studies, but instructors hope to expand to a major in the next several years. The program will offer instruction in conversational Gaelic, as well as Irish literature, history, music, dance, film and theater. Students also will have the opportunity to study at Ireland’s University College Cork, an institution UM had developed strong partnerships with.

Though five Irelands could fit inside Montana, McAleese said Irish settlers made a huge impact on their new home, and she used a Chinese proverb to illustrate this point: Those who drink the water should remember with gratitude those who dug the wells.

“I hope the establishment of this program will develop a new chapter in the relationship between Ireland and Montana,” she said. “It’s a relationship, you know, that stretches back more than 150 years. It’s about Irish men and women who made Montana their home and held Ireland in their hearts.”