Governor Hochul: “This place was conceived by so many people who thought we need a gathering place when they were done working every day at the steel plants or at the corner pub or playing Gaelic football on a Sunday like my grandfather and father played... They built this place as a place to continue sharing that love of family and traditions and above all the love of Ireland that has now been passed on to the generations that are in this room here today.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks at Buffalo Irish Center’s Annual Civic Luncheon.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format.
AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Just warming up my heart, thank you, thank you. Thank you for truly make me feel like a daughter of Ireland when I walked through those doors. But not just the daughter of Ireland, but a daughter of South Buffalo and Western New York, because this is where my family began.
And to the Schroeder family, the Horan family and all the other families that have helped build this institution. Literally, this place was conceived by so many people who thought we need a gathering place when they were done working every day at the steel plants or at the corner pub or playing Gaelic football on a Sunday like my grandfather and father played – on the same team and their pictures out there. They built this place as a place to continue sharing that love of family and traditions and above all the love of Ireland that has now been passed on to the generations that are in this room here today.
So, I am so proud to be here standing with people from the community, my friends, but also an extraordinary list of elected leaders who are with us here today, and you'll be hearing from some of them. But I want to give a special shout out to my great friend, our Attorney General Tish James. Let's give her a round of applause. Our State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Our Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes has joined us. Mayor Byron Brown has joined us. Our Senators, Senator Tim Kennedy, I saw Senator Gallivan, Senator Ortt has joined us. I want to thank all of them and the Assemblymembers. Also, I have members of my own team here. You need to get to know Civil Service Commissioner Tim Hogues, who cut his teeth in Erie County Government – Buffalo Zone. I hired him out of Buffalo, too. I'm okay with that.
And Hope Knight, our ESD Commissioner, if you want to see any economic development projects, say hi to her. And to Tim Flanagan, welcome. Thank you for welcoming us here.
And also, a little bit of patronage here with my own family. My father's father was one of the grand marshals. His daughter, Brigid Knott was around the grand marshals. And now the grand marshal of the parade is none other than my third cousin, cousin Liam Knott who's been part of our family for a long time, and I'm so proud of him as well. So, it's running deep in the family.
And Brian Higgins, our former Congressman, joining us. Jack Quinn, our former Congressman, joining us. Let's give Jack Quinn a huge round of applause. Many years of service. Thank you, Jack. We love you.
Our brothers and sisters in labor. Do we have any labor in the house? My whole family was labor. We had iron workers. We had steel workers. We had plumbers. We had iron workers – everybody building this great community. All of us have this connection.
And I will be brief because I know your stomachs are growling and your lips are thirsty. So, let's get that out there. But I want to say this, all of us are products of where we come from, and I can't tell you how many times I draw on the strength that is needed to run the State of New York based on where I began.
I began on these streets. I began in this community and sometimes you just have to draw deep to get that toughness to get you through the day and the next challenge. And my friends, because of all of you and this great community, I have steel running through my veins. I say, “Bring it on. I can handle any challenge because I'm a product of this community,” and you've given me that strength. So, thank you. Thank you to all of you.