REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE IRISH RED CROSS 14TH BIANNUAL NATIONAL YOUTH FORUM
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE IRISH RED CROSS 14TH BIANNUAL NATIONAL YOUTH FORUM ‘YEAR OF UNDERSTANDING THROUGH HUMANITY’
Dia dhíbh a chairde, I am delighted to be with you all today at this the 14th Irish Red Cross bi-annual Youth Forum which has the theme of ‘Y.O.U.T.H: Year of Understanding Through Humanity’. I would like to thank Irish Red Cross Youth and in particular, Darren Ryan, Chair of Irish Red Cross National Youth Working Group for giving me this opportunity to join you in this year of the Irish Red Cross’s seventieth birthday.
You are of course part of a world wide International Red Cross family that numbers almost one hundred million members and which has a legendary reputation in the field of humanitarian work and alleviating human suffering. You are also legends at home for the work you contribute to daily life, from the ambulance and first aid services to the family tracing services for refugees, you are the local face, hands and heart of a global movement that is all about care for one another, especially the most vulnerable and overlooked.
The Red Cross has grown in Ireland over these past seventy years and it would have simply died on the vine without the new recruits who volunteer each year many of them beginning with the Irish Red Cross Youth. I am particularly delighted that you are entering a new partnership with Gaisce, an organisation close to my heart, and that your Options Programme of awards will be integrated with the Gold, Silver and Bronze President’s Awards, bringing huge fresh vitality and benefits to both organisations. Through the Red Cross you will have made new friends, grown in new skills and knowledge but none of you joined the Red Cross to take anything from it but rather to add to its power for good in the world. And that is what it is to so many people - a power for good, an organisation which symbolises our common humanity and which showcases our sense of responsibility for one another as members of a global human family where some are born lucky and others are not.
You bring your values, your vision, your hopes, ambitions, experience and wisdom to this Forum. Each one of you has brought with you a unique piece of the jigsaw puzzle which you need to collectively put together so that you can see the shape of the Red Cross, the Ireland, the world you want to see develop in the years ahead. This is where you can make plans that can make change happen. Part of today is also about drawing confidence, inspiration and courage from what you as individuals and this organisation have already achieved through the active, engaged citizenship that underpins and is the life blood of the Red Cross.
There is no easy way to make society softer, more caring, more sensitive and inclusive. It does not happen by coincidence or by doing nothing. Care and compassion are only lofty meaningless words unless they are felt in the lives of those who are lonely, sick, oppressed, abused, poor, marginalised, isolated, stigmatised and excluded. Those words are brought alive by human touch, by real help, by sustained support, by being where the need is. That is where the Red Cross has placed itself world wide from its beginnings, not in a place of mere words but in a place of action, underpinned by noble human values. Little by little, step by step your work helps us build towards a world where those values become real for all and not just for the few. The longest journey starts with the first step and the Red Cross has long since taken those early steps. It has never been intimidated by the scale of the problems or the obstacles on the journey. It has simply headed down the road because if you want to get to the destination that is what you have to do.
Rather like the economic recession we all face at the moment and which has created such a pervasive sense of anguish, disappointment and worry, there are those who feel paralysed by pessimism and there are those who set their faces to a much further shore and though a tempest is raging, set out together to get through it for there is no other way to reach that further shore. On that further shore, let us hope that the values of this organisation, of care for humanity will prevail over the distorted values of greedy profiteering which got us into this mess. Your work with this organisation is a great preparation for the ups and downs of life. It teaches you to value your contribution and your voice, to respect the contribution and voice of others, to feel the power that comes from your individual giving of your best and the surging power that comes from working with others. In the sharing and networking that will happen here, you are laying the ground for the next phase of development of the Irish Red Cross Youth.
Speaking on young peoples’ participation in society, Mr. Kofi Annan, the then Secretary General of the United Nations, stated that “Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifeline; it is condemned to bleed to death.” These are powerful words and at this Forum we can say with certainty that your work is infusing Irish society with the fresh thinking, the fresh blood it needs to keep us focused on the future we are capable of creating by using today to the very best of our abilities. I congratulate you on the commitment and energy you give to Irish Red Cross Youth. Enjoy your forum, enjoy each other’s company and may I wish you every success in the future. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.