ublin, to-day a vibrant capital city with a young, highly educated population, was even in Celtic times, the focal point of Ireland. The four main roads or "Sli Bealach" converged on Dublin and on the former seat of the High Kings of Ireland at Tara, 30 km north west of Dublin. We are a proud people - proud of our Celtic heritage with its history and folklore - which depicts our ancestors as noble warriors, when the need arise, and as scholars, explorers and people of great wisdom and foresight during peaceful times. Our Gaelic language is handed down to us by our Celtic forebears. In this we are one with all the other Celtic groups on the fringe of Europe. Northern Spaniards, Bretons, Cornish, Welsh, Scots and Irish people populate what we now know as the Celtic rim of Europe. We are proud to be associated with this coming together of our Celtic neighbours and in offering this type of venture to incoming visitors to our countries, we believe we can demonstrate the Celtic influences on to-days cultural development within each country. In Dublin we have many exhibits of Celtic origin in our National Museum. These range from weapons to cooking utensils to

jewellery and it is not at all unusual, in fact much of the time it is fashionable, to have Celtic designs on modern jewellery and in clothing fabrics. The world famous Book of Kells in Trinity College Dublin, the Tara Brooch and the Cross of Cong in the National Museum, the fine stone crosses, dolmens, cliff top forts and castles scattered around the countryside, are all evidence of the Celtic influence in our heritage. But while we are extremely proud of our history, we do not live in the past. To-day Dublin and Ireland are going proudly forward into the new millennium. Our young people are educated and travel the world bringing with them innovative skills to become essentially involved in any country and its development. Here at home we have preserved the best of our heritage, we have developed our cities and towns and our general infrastructure to the fine examples of modern living that you see to-day. In all of this we have not forgotten that the visitor is a person who wants to meet kindred spirits and enjoy our country and our people. So in Ireland, we still know how to salute our visitors with the traditional Cead Mile Failte - one hundred thousand welcomes - and each of them is for YOU.