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05/10/2012
President: Ireland Has A Lot To Learn
Michael D Higgins has said Ireland has a lot to learn from Latin America.
The President is currently on a three-country tour of South America with his wife Sabina, in order to boost relations between Ireland and the Latin continent.
He was speaking at the University of Diego Portales, Santiago in Chile last night and said Ireland and the rest of Europe have a lot to learn.
Chile has an unemployment rate of about 6.5%.
He said Ireland and many other EU member states were experiencing sustained recession that would only be solved through new thinking and innovative models.
"We cannot, I suggest, simply seek to return to business as usual, and revert to approaches that have failed our people with the consequences of such unacceptable levels of unemployment as affects more than half of our young people in several European countries."
He said the European project required "a quality of thinking and an intellectual commitment" that included moral and social values like the reduction of unemployment.
"The reality is that the biggest single problem Europe has is unemployment and therefore it is the issue of adjusting your economic models and allowing for a plurality of economic models such as would impact on different ways on the unemployment problem as it manifests itself," he added.
President Higgins said his visit "reflects the bonds of family and friendship between Chile and Ireland" and "offers the valuable opportunity to explore how Ireland and Chile can develop further that relationship".
The President reportedly delivered part of his address in Spanish, having attended a four week language course over the summer.
The President is currently on a two week tour which will include Argentina, Brazil and Chile.
(IT/GK)
The President is currently on a three-country tour of South America with his wife Sabina, in order to boost relations between Ireland and the Latin continent.
He was speaking at the University of Diego Portales, Santiago in Chile last night and said Ireland and the rest of Europe have a lot to learn.
Chile has an unemployment rate of about 6.5%.
He said Ireland and many other EU member states were experiencing sustained recession that would only be solved through new thinking and innovative models.
"We cannot, I suggest, simply seek to return to business as usual, and revert to approaches that have failed our people with the consequences of such unacceptable levels of unemployment as affects more than half of our young people in several European countries."
He said the European project required "a quality of thinking and an intellectual commitment" that included moral and social values like the reduction of unemployment.
"The reality is that the biggest single problem Europe has is unemployment and therefore it is the issue of adjusting your economic models and allowing for a plurality of economic models such as would impact on different ways on the unemployment problem as it manifests itself," he added.
President Higgins said his visit "reflects the bonds of family and friendship between Chile and Ireland" and "offers the valuable opportunity to explore how Ireland and Chile can develop further that relationship".
The President reportedly delivered part of his address in Spanish, having attended a four week language course over the summer.
The President is currently on a two week tour which will include Argentina, Brazil and Chile.
(IT/GK)
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