Speech at Gardiner Street Primary School
8th June 2015
Tá áthas orm a bheith anseo ar maidin chun oscail na seomraí nua tábhachtacha seo i Scoil Náisiúnta Shráid Ghairdinéir a cheiliúradh.
[I am delighted to be here this morning to open and celebrate this important new accommodation at Gardiner Street National School.]
Today we mark a significant milestone in the life of a school which has served, nurtured and developed the children of this area for almost two centuries. We also witness the coming together of two important spaces which have played their unique and critical role in the history of inner city Dublin, both stretching back to a time and place which evokes a very different society and country from the one we know today.
It is apt that this school and the former St Martin’s Food Centre opened their doors to the community on the same day back in February 1830. Both the school and the centre were founded on a great instinct for caring, a true spirit of community and a real will to respond to the needs of the community. Both have stood, for many years, as testament to, and symbol of, the great contribution that has been made to our society by the Sisters of Charity and their founder, the Venerable Mary Aikenhead.
Over the hundred and eighty five years since that day, this school has witnessed the famine, the 1916 rising, two world wars, and the redevelopment of this historic area of Dublin’s inner city.
All these seismic events were witnessed and survived by both the school and the centre as they maintained a steadfast presence here on Gardiner Street, representing comfort, and for the future, to the generations of citizens who benefitted from their loyal and constant support and assistance.
Today Gardiner Street Primary School continues to welcome and develop a new generation of young people who, like previous generations, will learn and grow together creating strong and lasting friendships and benefitting from the holistic education they receive here at this school .
In fact, I am sure that some of the pupils are probably children and grandchildren of former pupils of Gardiner Street School or have uncles and aunts or older siblings who used to attend here, making it an important part of your family life too, a place of memories that you all share in common.
Of course, Gardiner Street School also embraces a rapidly changing, diverse and multicultural Ireland and is proud to welcome into its classrooms children from many different parts of the world, who now call Ireland ‘home’ and who, with their families, contribute much to their school and to their North inner city community, and to the mosaic of stories and cultures that is our Ireland of today.
Indeed, the pupils of Gardiner Street School are fortunate to attend a school which values the special contribution each of them can make to their school community, whether as a talented musician or artist or as an athlete, or as a kind and considerate friend, or by being a good leader or a helpful team member; or in all the other ways they can make their contribution to the school community.
The range of activities provided here in this school is so impressive, I refer to the after school clubs, and swimming lessons and the talented school band who played for me earlier, all of which contributes to the broader development of children attending this school. I have also been very inspired by the encouragement that the children obviously receive to view life in a way that is creative, fun and full of possibility, learning to understand that there is often no right or wrong way of looking at a problem or of completing a task.
It is important that our young people learn that sometimes there are just different ways of seeing things or understanding things, or interpreting situations, or responding to the problems we view around us. It is such a sense of creativity that must lie at the heart of any truly just and equal world, and citizens who will know how to ask the right questions of our decision makers will play a central role in crafting an Ireland that places community and social cohesion at its heart.
Today we witness, through the imaginative redevelopment of the former St Martin’s food centre, the ongoing evolution of Gardiner Street Primary School. By acquiring this valuable space you will be enabled to expand the existing schools facilities, continuing to provide education for the children and families of this inner city community and create schooldays they can look back on with pleasure and gratitude.
May I conclude by commending your principal Eileen O’Doherty, teachers and support staff for their dedication and constant willingness to go the extra mile and to give that little bit more in order to fully nurture and support all of the children in their care.
Is mian liom chomh maith gach rath a ghuí ar na scoláirí ar fad le linn a laethanta scoile agus tar éis dom bualadh libh inniu, táim cinnte go n-éireoidh go geal libh sa saol mór agus go scroichfidh sibh bárr bhur gcumas.
May I also wish all of the pupils here every success throughout their schooldays and from meeting you all today, I know that you are all going to be very successful in what you want to do in life and in reaching your potential.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.