Inside Trinity

But none of this and none of our writer fellows would have been possible except for the incredible support of Dr. Peter Rooney.

And we invited him here today as our guest of honour.

And just to say that by creating the Rooney Writer Fellows, He has not only done incredible service for the Trinity Long Room Hub and for Trinity, but I think also for Ireland and wider society as well, because it is the championing of creativity.

It's the championing of the imagination and great writing.

And I think in a time when... there's so much wrong going on in the world and democracy being undermined and erosion of public trust and disinformation and cynicism and all of these terrible things.

It is more important than ever that we celebrate these great human values and human stories.

And I think it is serving a purpose in strengthening our society and upholding our society and our democratic values.

And therefore, I think it is a great service going well beyond Trinity.

It's a service to our country.

And in 2030, At the end of my term as director, the Hub will be 20 years old, and we're going to be running a whole series of events to celebrate the architects of the Hub.

The women and men who made this possible, starting with Valerie Mulvan, the architect, who designed such a beautiful building with the light and the wood and everything.

that makes this a space where you can have these wonderful discussions and engagements.

But we are going to celebrate and honour all of the people who helped make the Hub possible.

And one of those people will be Peter Rooney.

But before that event in four years' time, we just wanted to make a very small presentation to him, more as a token, as a sign of our thanks for making all this possible.

You know.

And I will now pass on to, well, I think it's a wonderful symmetry.

Our very first Rooney Writer Fellow, our current Rooney Writer Fellow for this conversation.

I may chip in occasionally, but we are going to end at around a quarter to ten seconds.

and move upstairs because we have promised gin and tonics and wine and light refreshments.

That is all upstairs.

The limes have been sliced.

The lemons have been sliced.

The ice is there.

And on a particular evening like this, I think we are in need of refreshments as well.