REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF THE IRISH ASSOCIATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN CARE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF THE IRISH ASSOCIATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN CARE THURSDAY, 18 DECEMBER, 2003
Dia dhíbh a cháirde. Go raibh míle maith agaibh as an fháilte chroíúl sin.
Good morning everyone and thank you for that warm and generous welcome. I am delighted to be here today to launch the Irish Association of Young People in Care and I am grateful to Catherine Carty, National Co-ordinator, for inviting me to join you on this very special occasion. It is particularly reassuring to see here people from so many different backgrounds but with one shared agenda, to keep Ireland’s vulnerable children safe and happy and to keep all of us focussed on how best to achieve that.
There are at least two good reasons why this is a particularly special day for children. One is the launch of this Association which I am privileged to be part of and the other is the appointment earlier today of the Ombudsman for Children. I had the nice job of making that appointment official today though of course children from all over Ireland were involved in the selection process. The new Ombudsman will be a powerful and independent advocate for children, their special champion. We have a National Children’s Strategy and it wants our country to be a place ‘where children are respected as young citizens with a valued contribution to make and a voice of their own; where all children are cherished and supported by family and the wider society; where they enjoy a fulfilling childhood and realise their potential.’ Today we have taken two vital steps closer to that Ireland.
Christmas time often presents us with idealised images of family life - the kind of life we would wish for every child but which we know for some is far from their everyday reality. Misfortunes of all sorts happen to human beings and the fallout greatly affects children, often in the most difficult of ways. Most children in Ireland have never heard of residential care or foster care, they have never heard the expression “key-worker”, they have never been the subject of a “case conference” or a “review.” For Ireland’s children in care these complex words are part of their life story, but too often a story that others always seem to tell on their behalf. Every person in this room has probably had the frustrating experience at some stage in their lives of being overlooked or ignored in circumstances where what you had to say was important, even essential. How much worse when that experience is accompanied by the powerlessness that comes from being a child, from being unaware of your rights, from feeling that no one really cares. This Association is determined that our children in care will get the chance to tell their own stories, know their own rights and have the active support of an organisation in which theirs are the most important voices. That is child-centredness as its best.
Each child is precious to our nation. Each child has his or her own set of gifts which our world needs. There is no greater or sadder waste than a young life that has been overwhelmed by circumstance and has never had the chance to blossom as it should and as it could. Our care system exists to make sure that when family circumstances threaten to overwhelm a child, there is a caring safety net designed to hold that child safe, to steer him or her through the crisis, to guide them on the road to a better future. This Association wants to make that safety net as strong and effective as possible and it will be much stronger when the lived experiences of children who are in care or who have been in care, as told by themselves, are woven into the fabric of that net.
It was Graham Greene who once wrote ‘there is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.’ With what you have set out to achieve, with what the National Children’s Strategy is set to achieve and with the Ombudsman’s careful stewardship, we can justifiably celebrate what is perhaps also a moment in our nation’s history when a door has been opened and the future enters – a celebration in the knowledge that more little lives will encounter more open doors providing more opportunity in the years ahead.
There is an African proverb which says ‘the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago; the second best time is now’. The establishment of your Association represents an idea that has come of age and we are grateful to you for your vision, commitment, concern and sheer hard work over long hours and years to make this day possible. None of us has all the answers to the challenges that face those in care. The professionals have a wealth of vital experience, essential to the effectiveness of our care system and so too do the children. Constructive listening and sensitive dialogue between the young people and the various caring agencies that affect their lives is our best guarantee that tomorrow’s children in care will be as safe and happy as possible. Working together we can achieve more – as the Irish saying tells us ‘ní neart go chur le chéile’ – there is strength through partnership.
I would like to acknowledge the support of the Department of Health and Children, the Eastern Regional Health Authority and Barnardos, and to the very many others who have brought the Irish Association of Young people in Care to where it is today. I look forward to hearing more about your work in the months and years ahead. I wish you every success with your important work, work that will enhance the lives of so many young people and I congratulate you once again on what you have already achieved.
Finally, I wish you all and your loved ones a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful and contented New Year.
Nollaig shona agus athbhliain shuaimhneach daoibh go léir. Go raibh maith agaibh.