ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A CIVIC RECEPTION AT COLERAINE COUNCIL CIVIC HEADQUARTERS
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A CIVIC RECEPTION AT COLERAINE COUNCIL CIVIC HEADQUARTERS TUESDAY, 13TH MAY, 2003
I am delighted to be here today and I would especially like to thank your Mayor Olive Church and your Chief Executive and Town Clerk Wavell Moore for the kind invitation to meet you all today. I would also like to thank Clive Miller here at the Borough Council for his help in co-ordinating this visit.
These striking state-of the-art headquarters are an appropriate location for an organisation striving to build a positive future for the local community and representative of the increasingly confident Northern Ireland that has emerged in recent years.
As one of the fastest growing regions in Europe, Coleraine Borough has a vitality and energy that is evident in every facet of this community. As well as being a centre of commerce Coleraine is a centre of learning playing host to some excellent centres of learning, the University of Ulster campus being a particularly splendid example. This island’s greatest natural asset lies in the genius, the brainpower of its people and education is the key to harvesting that resource. The influx of educated young people to the area adds dynamism and innovation. Their skills and knowledge, their potential is itself a vital resource base with which to plan a decent future.
The economic prospects for this area have rarely been more exciting than at the present time, spearheaded as they are by that dynamism, by visionary and talented people in the interlinked worlds of trade, business, industry, tourism, science and education. The opportunities opening up and the challenges presented are enthusiastically embraced and exploited by the many individuals, organisations and groupings who are committed to advancing the welfare and prosperity of this county and region.
The strategic importance of Derry city and its hinterland from a regional development perspective cannot be underestimated. Northern Ireland’s second largest city, the island’s fourth largest city, Derry has set itself some highly ambitious and imaginative objectives for development and growth in its City Vision 2020. The age profile of its rapidly increasing population is very young. That augurs well for labour force growth and development but it creates a huge onus on local leaders to create the future to match the ambitions and talents of these young people. Excellent communications, a strengthening vibrancy in entrepreneurial outlook and a clear pro-business focus in development agency activity here are important examples of the deep fund of rich resources available in the county to support its development plans for the future.
Reassuring too is the cross-border dimension to the growing fortunes of Derry’s economy. The Derry and Donegal economies are inextricably linked as indeed are those of the counties of the wider North West region generally including Fermanagh, Tyrone, Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo. These counties and the development agencies operating in them are currently involved in a collaborative venture- its focus- to bring confidence and prosperity to the region by thinking and acting in partnership and with a fresh imagination.
I know, too that bodies such as the Borough Councils, the Chambers of Commerce, the development agencies, etc. are all playing their part in facilitating cross-border trade, business and strategic alliance-making in the common belief that expanded trade and business bring with them a mutuality of economic advantage that lifts the quality of life, creates healthier relationships and uses all our resources effectively.
There was a time when the land border within the European Union with the least trade across it was the land border between North and South on this island. It was bad economics and made for less than wholesome neighbourly relations. We each have goods and services to sell, we each have money in our pockets to spend, we each have tourists and investors we want to attract. We each have infrastructural planning dots which need to be joined up in order for our respective economies to work to their maximum efficiency. It makes sense to do as much as we can in respectful collaboration.
The immediate and long-term economic dividends are obvious. Less obvious but equally important are the social dividends for they create the network of comfortable friendships and alliances out of which will come the trust we need for healthy relationships- the basic building block of our future.
I know that the mission of this Council “To serve the community and promote its well-being” is one which is promoted not only by the 22 councillors who represent the people of the Borough but is also a goal that is actively promoted by the local and business sector. So may I take this opportunity to congratulate you on what you have achieved and what you are set to achieve in the future. Finally on behalf of Martin and myself, I would like to thank you for the very warm reception and wish you all well in the years ahead.