Good afternoon and welcome everyone: founders; board members and ex-board members, sponsors, sponsoring members, and mayor.
First, a fragment was read from a letter that was addressed to us by the Irish Ambassador Kevin Conmy.
The speech was 'interrupted' three times for a musical number performed by Paddy's Choice.
The floor was first given to the mayor of Roeselare; Mr. Kris Declerck.
25 years: in the meantime a more than mature association that has experienced some important highlights over the years:
• 1999: establishment of the vzw Vlaanderen-Ierland after more than 1 year of negotiations and soon after that a website was created and an official logo registered.
• That same year we offered interested parties an evening program with an open stage for Irish groups and a dance group from Brussels that promoted Irish dances. • 2000: 1 year old, a party with a performance by Our Choice and the now internationally well-known Irish group Natural Gas.
• 2004: 5th anniversary: the Laagstraat in Beveren was closed for, among other things, a sheep herding demonstration with border collies; followed by dazzling performances by, among others, Our Choice and Angela and Eric Campbell; and then also an initiation to Irish dancing.
• We visited the peace tower in Mesen and the ‘peace village’ there;
• 2005: We organised an Irish weekend in Ravelingen and organised a whiskey tasting, slide show, Irish gastronomy and the then Green Jacket.
• We organised an Irish weekend in the open-air museum ‘Bachten de Kupe’ where we met an inspector from ‘Fair Compensation’.
• That same year, we also let people taste Irish tea and cake during the festival in the park. • It remained busy with an Irish evening in Dadizele and a frequently visited stand at the travel guide fair in Ostend.
• 2006: Travel guide fair in Roeselare; information evening in Moorslede; tastings in Kachtem; Irish day in Ghent; Ravelingen again and ‘het Iers Gevoel’ on the Tassche, with 4 “free-podium- groups’ and a precursor of the Celtic Spirit Dancers.
• 2007: Bovekerke, Poperinge and Ravelingen again.
• 2008: busy with the Reiswijzerbeurs Roeselare; Druid Cellar in Bruges; The Gathering in Oostrozebeke; Lekkepot in Beveren/Roes; Mesen…
• 2009: we became world record holders; together with many others, in whisky tasting in Ghent.
• We visited Ypres with a guide; including the Flanders Field Museum, the casemates, the fortifications and of course a pub; for which we did not need a guide.
• 2010: Start of a still ongoing collaboration with the association “Irish in Europe” and became a collaborator at the St. Patrick’s Parade in Brussels; a procession that attracts around 3000 participants every year. Did you know by the way, that there are about 4000 Irish people working in European institutions and companies in and around Brussels.
• An Irish night in Sente, and were back in Ravelingen.
• We boarded P&O Ferries in Zeebrugge for a whiskey trip to Hull and back. The nausea of some had nothing to do with rough seas.
• 2012: we went to Dublin with 12 people to experience the immense festivities around St. Patricks’ Day on 17 March. A tradition that is still repeated practically every year by Jan and Els; this in different cities there. Due to a misunderstanding, we stayed at Croke Park Hotel where the final of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was also being played at that time. We stayed for the after-party!
• After the adventure in 2010, we sailed with the Yserstar, there and back Nieuwpoort-Diksmuide to taste whiskey. No rough seas this time. • 2013: storytelling evening about Heuvelland and the mysticism of that region with Kotje Piepers and Lonneville.
• Celtic Spirit Dancers in a sold-out hall OCAR.
• 2014: 15 years old: 12-day trip to Ireland with about 30 people.
• We also launched our own whiskey; also in the context of the commemoration of 100 years of the Great War.
• And; an Irish afternoon in the municipality where we were founded! Ledegem
• In 2015, a musical, historical program was presented around John Condon, a British soldier who fought in the region and died during World War I.
• After more than a year of negotiations with the then city council of Ypres, a commemorative plaque could be placed on October 27 in the St. Jacobsstraat on the house where the Benedictine monastery of the congregation that fled to Ireland in 1917 used to be. A delegation from the monastery attended the ceremony here and even recruited a lady to join the monastic life. In the meantime, the friendship ties with the congregation in Ireland, Kylemore Abbey, have only been strengthened.
• We received a letter of congratulations from Sister Margaret Fitzgibbon.
Even now, when I am there with a group, I am received in audience by the Sister.
That same year, our board was honored by the Irish in Europe association for our efforts to promote Ireland in Flanders. We were praised in Ireland via Irish TV. During this ceremony, I was appointed as the first non-Irish person to be Grand Marshall of this association.
• 2017 brought a successful aperitif concert with Joe Mullen.
• In 2020, on the advice of the then Irish Ambassador MacAodha, the non-profit organization was changed into an FV but under the permanent full protection of the Irish Embassy.
• In 2022, Kevin Conmy, as the ‘new’ Irish Ambassador, paid a private visit to Roeselare to get to know the Flemish cuisine together with the board, extinguished with Rodenbach and after a short city walk to pay tribute to the fallen Irish of World War I; this at the Municipal Cemetery. • Nice detail: the Ambassador's wife, Siobhan, has taught her children to enjoy pancakes with a scoop of ice cream.
• In 2023, just like in 2015, an evening with Alfred den Ouden.
• Over the years, we have traveled several times with 12 interested parties for a short trip to Ireland; during which the region around Kilkenny, C° Clare and Dublin was discovered (do you remember those stinking crypts?)
• We tore down the place with the brothers (and teachers) of the Broederschool during renovation work.
• A few day trips in Flanders, with an Irish touch, of course.
• Over the years, we have shown a slide report 17 times; 21 whiskey tastings - with or without Irish cheese and/or salmon - and then the information afternoons and evenings for groups planning a trip to Ireland. • We provided an information stand at about 10 shows of the Celtic Spirit Dancers in De Pinte.

• Know that after the reception you can still enjoy a tour of Ireland (on video) and the performance of Paddy’s Choice; of which you already heard a foretaste during this official part.
• This year, too, activities are planned; such as an Irish dancing workshop with Taradance on April 27; a performance by Malahide and in between an open stage with Dust Laaif. Tickets can be purchased at the entrance of the hall.
• This year too: on May 3, there will be an introduction to Ireland for the cultural council in Heestert. (private)
• We are still looking for a good ending to the festive year.
• There are sighs in the board to organize another short trip to Ireland; but these are dreams for the future and given the high travel costs, a few alternatives must first be calculated.
Why did I give this overview? It is only when you make an overview that you realize what the board has achieved over the years. I must therefore once again thank the board members, our sponsors and members for the annual support; which allows us to continue to exist and to offer this celebration. My and our more than sincere thanks for this!
But: I must now also certainly thank the City Council of Roeselare who, thanks to the subsidy for music events, makes a great contribution to these double celebrations.
My argument has gone on long enough by now; so let us just toast to 25 years and hopefully and perhaps even longer.
Thanks for being there and slainté!
Bart sr Depestel