College President Dr O’Shea, Professor Powderly, Dr Fauci, other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good evening.
I want to thank you Dr O’Shea for your warm introduction and for your kind invitation to be part of what is very special event.
Dr Fauci became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 2021 during the pandemic in recognition of his international leadership at that time.
The Stearne Medal – the most prestigious award from this historic college – is awarded “from time to time to persons of distinction who have made a contribution to medicine in Ireland…”
As we heard during the very interesting discussion earlier, and as we will learn from Professor Powderly’s citation, Dr Anthony Fauci is truly, in every meaningful sense of that phrase, “a person of distinction’.
During your lifetime of service to public health and pursuit of scientific truth, you advised 7 US Presidents, right up to the current President Biden.
I have no doubt that over the course of that extraordinary service, you will have had to deal with a great range of what we’ll call ‘styles’ of Governing, but the fact of your longevity and your trusted role in so many different administrations is the clearest possible evidence of your integrity, professionalism and commitment to protecting public health.
On behalf of the Government of Ireland, and on my own behalf I want to welcome you and your wife Dr Christine Grady to Ireland.
I know it is your first visit, and I am told Dr Grady that you have family roots in Clare and Sligo.
We haven’t just nailed down the Irish branch of the Fauci’s yet, but we have our best people working on it and I am confident we will!
But Anthony, Christine, you really are most welcome in our country and I hope you experience the Cead Míle Failte wherever you go during your visit.
It was my great honour to lead this country through the bulk of the Covid Pandemic, as Taoiseach.
It was, as we all remember well, an exceptionally challenging period, with decisions that would have been unthinkable a few short years ago, required to be made every day.
Doctors in this college, and many people in this room tonight provided the bedrock of expertise, insight and scientific inquiry that informed many of those decisions.
I see our former Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan; I see Professor Mary Horgan and Dr Colm Henry from our National Public Health Emergency Team; I see members of our National Immunisation Advisory Committee.
To each of you, and all those here who contributed to that great national effort, thank you.
I can say with absolute conviction and without fear of challenge that in times of uncertainty and crisis, the guidance of scientific experts becomes indispensable.
And when I look back on that time, the fact that as a country we did as well as we did in preventing excess mortality, and our high rates of vaccination was due in large part to the fact that the Irish people, as a whole, respected that scientific expertise.
It is therefore particularly fitting that one of Ireland’s foremost scientific institutions should honour Dr Fauci in this way.
Your steadfast commitment to evidence-based decision making and your willingness to speak truth to power had an impact far beyond the shores of the United States.
You helped guide policymakers and shape public health policy all around the globe.
Your contribution has helped save countless lives and has inspired a new generation of young people into science.
You have always followed the science and your message urging doctors to continue to advocate for science and truth is welcome and important.
The pursuit of truth is not always easy, but it is essential to maintain progress and prosperity. It is difficult, but profoundly important work.
Your advocacy, Doctor Fauci, your response to the many and high profile challenges you have faced, your steadfastness is an inspiration.
It is as good an example of that work that any of us is likely to be able to summon.
For this lifetime of service, for this personal commitment to the public good, I say thank you.
And I congratulate you on receiving this singular honour tonight. It is genuinely and richly deserved. Comhghairdeachas, agus go raibh míle maith agat.
