 good morning ladies and gentlemen what an absolute pleasure to be here this morning to join all of you to kickstart on what I know will be an absolutely fantastic day here in New York Mayor Adams thank you so much for having us here this morning thank you for opening up your home I know that this has become a fantastic tradition but it's certainly one that we do not take for granted so thank you for having us here we all really appreciate it it's so wonderful that you host your reception every year for our national day that you recognize the incredible contribution that Irish people have made to this wonderful city over the many many years our histories are so interwoven from the thousands of hands that helped to dig the tunnels right across the city to building the Empire State Building to those who live and work here now your city's history is interwoven with the Irish and with Ireland and I am delighted to bring warm greetings from Ireland it's freezing at home but I bring warm greetings from Ireland to everyone gathered here today in just a few hours it will be my honor to take part in the iconic New York St Patrick's Day Parade a parade that has a record being unbroken in 263 years and long may it continue for another 263 years it is emblematic of the role of the Irish in this great city in fact preceding even the establishment of the United States itself so we are so so proud and I'm so proud to join so many of you today this year the parade will be led by a woman for just the sixth time ever Grand Marshal Maggie Timoney a wonderful woman who I've had the opportunity of meeting many times this week came to Iona College here in the U.S. on a basketball scholarship from Balana and County Mayo and we have plenty Mayo here this week she's now the CEO of Heinegan USA and has chosen her team this year celebrating the women in our community and I could not think of a better team for this year it calls on all of us to recognize the wonderful contributions and the sacrifices of Irish women to the New York community their equal standing and their role in all aspects of life and society and what a fantastic and amazing contribution they have made from the moment in 1892 when an Irish woman named Annie Moore stepped off the steamship Nevada in New York and became the very first immigrant to be processed at Ellis Island to the moment Maggie Timoney became the first woman to run one of America's most recognized companies Irish women have been fearless breaking new ground and reaching new heights and I see many of those women here today as well just last month on February 1st we celebrate at St. Bridget's Day our other national saint long recognized in Ireland as heralding the start of spring and new beginnings the day has long symbolized hope and renewal it's also a reminder to celebrate the creativity of women and the remarkable contribution that women have made and continue to make across the world so again I'm delighted that this year's parade celebrates their achievements mr. Mayor Eric again thank you so much for having us here I'll finish with this we started off the week in style with Killian Murphy taking home the Oscar our fantastic young sportsman Callum Walsh won his fight at Madison Square Garden last night and let's hope Ireland win the rugby today and take home the six nations so again thanks so much for hosting us happy St. Patrick's Day and enjoy the celebrations please welcome the mayor of the city of New York thank you thank you and the announcer mix miss spoke it's oh Adams today we are really happy to see you here and particularly this year this year is a moment when we reflect on the contributions of women who play such a major role in the irish community from the grand marshal today to those who are marching side by side but often when we reflect on the success of women we talk about the great things they do as being leaders of corporations and of companies and leaders of running major races in the athletic abilities but I would like to really give honor to the women that we sometimes take for granted those are ones that give birth to us our mothers our grandmothers our great grandmothers how they instill in us in a very real way who we are and who we should represent as I went through Ireland several years ago I remember hearing over and over again it's about the family name always protect the family name and if you do something that distains the family's name it will follow generations to come and that is instilled in us from our mothers our dads play a role of course but nothing is more nurturing when it comes down to the role of mom's play as she really shapes and make you who you are and as I look at the irish community in this city on so many different levels from the men and women who are part of the fdny to the nypd of those who have made a major contribution to the development of this city as it was mentioned by Helen some of the contributions that were done you in law enforcement you look for the fingerprint of a person to see if they ever were at a particular location or scene you think about that in his analogy to the irish community your fingerprint has permanently been placed on this city when you look at the brooklyn bridge you cannot forget the contribution of the irish community when you look at how we move throughout our city with our massive transit system that contribution to our city was built by the irish community when you think about the prerequisite to public set to put to prosperity is public safety you cannot forget the irish men and women who have been part of the new york city police department rich history everywhere you look you see your fingerprint and your dna yes you've done so much for the country of island but do not forget what you have done for the country called america you are part of the american experience and the american dream it is because of the irish community that we could consider ourselves to be one of the greatest countries on the globe that diversity that has come from across the pond that allowed you to be here today is our way of saying thank you as we march today to give acknowledgement to a great tradition from food to culture to music to sound to poetry and just your mere existence has contributed to this great country and this great city this is the doubling of america new york city the largest largest irish population in the country is here in new york city so i thank you so much and i thank all my colleagues i know they spoke earlier we have with us assemblywoman jennifer rajkama to assemblyman assembly a senator brian cavernor and a good friend former councilman danie drum and i just want to and i want to really say a special thank you to assemblymember robby carol robin has done something that really as i talk about leaving your signature and your imprint he has done something that is truly amazing many of our young people like myself that suffer from learning disability you know from learning disabilities did not have a real pathway but robin was bold enough assemblyman carol was bold enough to start looking at early detections of learning disability so that we can start giving our young people a pathway to hope prosperity and know that they are no different than any other child his pursuit his legislation his commitment has been unparalleled in the area of developmental issues for our young people and i want to say thank you and it continues to show that we not only have the luck of the irish with us but we have the experience of your commitment and dedication happy st patrick day