Speech of 1943 showed de Valera was true statesman
De Valera never said that. What he hoped for was a land that “would be joyous with the sounds of industry, with the romping of sturdy children, the contests of athletic youth and the laughter of comely maidens.”
More importantly, the Ireland he “dreamed of would be of the home of a people who valued material wealth only as a basis for right living”. Perhaps if we had paid more attention to these values during the so-called Celtic Tiger era, we might not be in the financial straits in which we find ourselves now.