ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO THE LONG SERVING PRESIDENT’S AWARD LEADERS
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO THE LONG SERVING PRESIDENT’S AWARD LEADERS OF THE PRESIDENT’S AWARD ST PATRICK’S HALL
Dia dhíbh a chairde. Tá áthas orm bheith i bhur láthair ar an ocáid speisalta seo. Tá mé buíoch díbh as an gcuireadh agus as an bhfáilte fhíorchaoin a chur sibh romham.
It is my great pleasure to join you here today to formally recognise the important role played by the Volunteer Leaders in The President’s Award programme for the young people of Ireland. The special certificate acknowledging your outstanding service over the last five years is a small token of the great service you have done to Ireland through your empowerment of our young people.
All over Ireland there are boys and girls, men and women who are proud holders of the President’s Award. Their bronze, silver and gold awards are testimony to their commitment and to yours. Unpack each story and you find a life that has been enriched and strengthened not just by the achievement of the award but by realisation that you care about them and you want the best for them and from them. Your faith in our young people is as reassuring as your work for them is remarkable. The President’s Award is a searching and challenging test of the self. The goals it sets are intended to stretch. The standards it sets are deliberately high. They could be daunting but they are made attainable because you are there to encourage, support and to guide. Without you the Award scheme would not be possible and without the Award our country would be considerably the poorer, for you have helped to build our civic strength by building strong, confident, well-rounded and wise young citizens.
As President’s Award Leaders, you are a modern model of the Fianna of old and you display in full measure the three characteristics of Fionn’s knights
glaine bhfúr gcroi
’gus neart bhfúr ngéag
is beart de réir bhfúr mbriathar.
Purity of heart, strength of limb and fidelity of word.
President’s Award leaders take on quite a responsibility and a considerable test of themselves when they become involved so deeply in the personal development of young people. No two participants are the same. Each travels his or her own journey through the award and that means that you have to customise your response to each with effectively and with sensitivity. Participation in the award has to be a safe and rewarding experience governed by strict adherence to the Award’s own guidelines as well as the government guidelines. The evidence is in that this Award is one of the very best in the world, with a uniquely high level of participation unknown in other awards. What is more the President’s Award is drawing in more and more marginalized and mentally and physically challenged young people , making Ireland’s award one of the most inclusive awards of its kind. These things make us very proud and we could not do it without you.
Today is the anniversary of my own personal challenge. Six years ago today, in 1997, I was inaugurated as the eighth President of Ireland. I formed an ambition then to see the award extended to Northern Ireland where its collegial relationship with the Duke of Edinburgh Award would be a model of the kind of respectful future we are capable of creating. I wanted to see the award become a bridge to young people North and South whose life circumstances so often leave them out of the mainstream. Thanks to the wonderful staff and Board, the sponsors and funders and thanks to you, those ambitions have been realised, and the Award is going from strength to strength.
The Long Serving Presidents Award Leaders have given their time and skill, their commitment and wisdom without the remotest thought of thanks. Your reward has always been in seeing the young people step up to receive their President’s Award. Today we express the thanks and attempt to repay a little of the debt of gratitude you are owed. You can count the number of bronze, silver and golds that have been achieved with your help but there is no way of measuring the huge difference you have made to individual lives, to their families, their communities and to our country. That is incalculable and all the more invaluable for its witness to the power of volunteering and the spirit of unselfish care for others.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.