REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF SPRÉACHA, THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF SPRÉACHA, THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL, DRAÍOCHT ARTS CENTRE
Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo i bhur measc inniu. Go raibh míle maith agaibh as ucht bhur bhfáilte chaoin agus cneasta.
Good afternoon everybody.
It is great to be back again in Draíocht and to be able to welcome each one of you to this big occasion. A special welcome to our overseas visitors who have travelled all the way from Switzerland, Italy and England – céad mile fáilte – one hundred thousand welcomes. We know you are going to be sad to go home!
I wish to thank Emer McGowan for her kind invitation to be here at Draíocht to perform the official opening of ‘Spréacha,’ the 1st International Children’s Festival. I have the additional honour of being Patron of the Festival and of having opened Draíocht a few short years ago, when the idea of such an ambitious festival was just a glint in someone’s eye. Now it is here, firing the imaginations of Fingal’s children, entertaining them, challenging them, opening up to them the world of sheer wonder that is the Arts, fulfilling Draíocht’s promise and its vocation to bring that inspirational world right into the heart of the community.
The Festival is fantastic fun for the children and their enthusiasm is an important source of satisfaction to all the people who made it happen through their sheer hard work. Quite a few of you know just how much hard work, commitment and determination it took to make this Festival a reality. Draíocht creates magic but not the easy way - with a magic wand. Mind you they did manage to make school disappear for the afternoon and I don’t hear anyone complaining, surprisingly! Still if you have to drag yourselves away from the classroom you couldn’t be in a better place – a Festival designed especially for children, an adventure in the Arts, a place to fill heads full of fun and happy memories, curiosity and passion for more.
The English artist Eric Gill said a very true thing when he wrote that an artist is not a different kind of person, but every person can be a different kind of artist. And through this Festival our children will discover what kind of artists they are. Maybe in time to come some of them will be back here working at the 10th International Children’s Festival or the 20th and the notion of becoming an artist may well start here today.
Fingal County Council and the Arts Council deserve all our thanks for the much needed contributions and support they gave which allowed the Festival to happen. Congratulations to the team which did all the hard slog and which I know is going to be rewarded with a brilliant, successful Festival. Graham Greene wrote "there is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in”. This festival is one of those moments. Enjoy it. Well done Draíocht – again.
Go n-éirí go geal libh. Go raibh maith agaibh.