Governor Hochul: "We had a great opportunity to talk about issues that unite us, the long history of relations between Ireland and the State of New York, including my own grandparents, who left there and left great poverty, and found their way to Chicago and ultimately New York State. And as a result, I'm here. And I want to thank you for extending your hand in friendship and the relationships that we've had preexisting, but that'll even deepen with our knowledge of each other's great history. And I have such admiration for the people of Ireland, and to have you as a leader is really significant to all of us."
Taoiseach Martin: "I think your story, the story of your grandparents, their journey from Castlegregory to the U.S., very tough times, is a story of resilience, of perseverance, and it illustrates the enduring connectivity between our two nationals. And it's a fabulous story, of progress, of meritocracy, of people really working to get on in life. And we are very proud that an outcome of that journey has been the first woman Governor of New York, a Kerry woman if you don't mind me saying that. And I think many, many people in Ireland were thrilled and delighted when they heard that news, and I think it reflects that enduring relationship between us."
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul met with Taoiseach Micheál Martin of Ireland.
VIDEO of today's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of today's remarks is available below:
Governor Hochul: Thank you very much for joining us today. I just had the most lovely conversation with Taoiseach Martin, who has traveled a great distance to come to our city for United Nations week, but he made a stop here to visit me here in our offices, the New York Governor's office. And I was very delighted to get to know him, even though he's a Cork man and I come from Kerry, in a sense, and there's a little bit of rivalry when it comes to Gaelic football, but for purposes of today, we're on the same team.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin: Absolutely.
Governor Hochul: And we had a great opportunity to talk about issues that unite us, the long history of relations between Ireland and the State of New York, including my own grandparents, who left there and left great poverty, and found their way to Chicago and ultimately New York State. And as a result, I'm here. And I want to thank you for extending your hand in friendship and the relationships that we've had preexisting, but that'll even deepen with our knowledge of each other's great history. And I have such admiration for the people of Ireland, and to have you as a leader is really significant to all of us. So if you want to say a few words, I'd like to welcome you.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin: Well, thank you very much indeed, Governor, and pleasure to meet with you this afternoon. And I said to Kathy, I think your story, the story of your grandparents, their journey from Castlegregory to the U.S., very tough times, is a story of resilience, of perseverance, and it illustrates the enduring connectivity between our two nationals. And it's a fabulous story, of progress, of meritocracy, of people really working to get on in life. And we are very proud that an outcome of that journey has been the first woman Governor of New York, a Kerry woman if you don't mind me saying that. And I think many, many people in Ireland were thrilled and delighted when they heard that news, and I think it reflects that enduring relationship between us. And I enjoyed the conversation we had earlier. We compared notes in relation to COVID-19. And of course we were very worried and concerned in terms of the impact of Storm Ida, and again, it illustrates the issue of climate change and how central that is to our lives now, and this week at the UN Security Council, Ireland has been broaching that issue for quite some time now, getting the issue of climate and security on the UN agenda, that's been a consistent theme of ours and in many ways, Storm Ida, again, reinforces that the centrality of climate to our political agenda, and to needs for nations to take decisions in relation to that.
We're also delighted to see that shortly we should be, the travel ban will lift, which I think would give a filler to Europe, to Ireland and the U.S. relationship. Connectivity is everything, and it's the lifeblood of our relationship. And I think it reflects the progress we're making in respect of COVID-19.
Governor Hochul: Thank you. We miss the tourists. We want the tourists to come back. We're looking forward to finding out more details on the lifting of that ban, but I have a feeling that the streets of New York will feel much more vibrant again when we have our international visitors coming here, people who've been vaccinated, which is important to us. And they'll find when they come to New York City, we have certainly right now, among the lowest infection rates in the entire nation. We're averaging about 2 percent, a little bit lower in Manhattan, so that's the message to get out to global travelers who have not made the journey in a very long time because of the pandemic, that we are open for business here in the State of New York. And there's fabulous Broadway plays, and shows, and concerts, and the museums, and all the great attractions are here.
And we cannot wait to have more visitors, but to welcome you, I wanted to present a gift. I know you're a fan of Gaelic football. My grandparents were actually founders of, co-founders of the Gaelic, North American Gaelic Athletic Association, and my grandfather and father played Gaelic football. And my father was a very good player. Ball player, as we say. This is a New York City team, that you need to see this. This is for you, if you want to hold up your jersey, and I'll show you mine. This was sent to me from Ireland.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin: I think I recognize that one.
Governor Hochul: So we have our shirts.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin: It was very diplomatic of you, Kathy, to give me this one.
Governor Hochul: No offense to my friends in County Cork. But that's our New York City team. We're very proud of that.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin: I was explaining to the Governor earlier that the president of the Gaelic Athletic Association, back in Ireland, is based in New York, Larry McCarthy, and he did great work for here GAA in New York and was elected by his peers in Ireland to lead the association for the next number of years.
Governor Hochul: My grandfather was one of the founders of the North American GAA. And again, as I said, my family, the father was a great athlete, and he was scheduled to go play in Ireland as part of the American team. And the week he was supposed to go, his daughter, Kathleen, was born. So he decided it would be better to stay home and be there for the birth of me instead of playing in Ireland. So he missed that opportunity, but I hear about it all the time, all the time.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin: And he probably reminded you all the time about it.
Governor Hochul: That's right. And this is a book of the history of the North American GAA.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin: Thank you very much. Thank you. And this is our little gift, which is a book also, but it's a book containing a poem by a foremost woman poet, this century, Eavan Boland. Now this was commissioned by our ambassador to the United Nations celebrating and commemorating 100 years of women's suffrage in Ireland. Women would come to vote in Ireland, 1918, and Eavan was commissioned to write a poem celebrating that. And it's illustrated by another Irish artist, Paula McGloin. And so it's a beautiful publication.
Governor Hochul: Absolutely, I will treasure this, thank you. 1918?
Taoiseach Micheál Martin: 1918, yeah. Universal suffrage.
Governor Hochul: 1917 in New York, but America, twenties, 1920. So you're right in the middle of our two. But thank you so much.
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