REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE SERENITY GARDEN
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE SERENITY GARDEN AT AISLINN ADOLESCENT TREATMENT CENTRE
Tá lúcháir orm go bhfuair mé cuireadh bheith anseo libh inniu agus ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil libh go léir as fáilte fiorchaoin a chur romham.
I am delighted to be here with you today to officially open this Serenity Garden and to see at first hand the wonderful work done here by the dedicated team under the guidance of Sr. Veronica Mangan at the Aislinn Centre. I had the pleasure of meeting Sr. Veronica and hearing about her hopes for this project at the AIB Better Ireland Awards in Kilkenny two years ago. It is therefore an honour for me to share the realisation of her vision with you today. My thanks to Breda Cahill for inviting me to celebrate this special occasion with you and also to each and every one of you for your very warm and generous welcome.
The fact that there are so many people here today is testament to the very high esteem in which the Centre is held both here in Kilkenny and further afield. Since its doors opened in 1998, the Aislinn Centre has provided an impressive, indeed vital, range of treatment services to so many young people, adolescents who have suffered the ravages of alcohol and drug dependency. And as this Centre casts a lifeline to those young people it also plays a hugely important role as a source of great support for the families of young substance abusers as they travel the road – an often bumpy and uncertain road - towards recovery.
Addiction, in all its forms, is a terrible affliction with a grim legacy of waste and misery for the individual addicts and for those whose lives are hurt and disrupted by the addiction of others, families, friends, neighbours, victims, communities and indeed society as a whole. Ireland has always had a ridiculously unhealthy attitude to alcohol. Today we are paying a high price for a culture in which excessive drinking plays such a prominent part. With more money in our pockets, more is being spent not just on alcohol but on drugs and we know the consequences in street crime, in the highest European consumptions of cannabis among 15-16 year olds and the highest increase in alcohol consumption within the EU in recent years.
Too many people make a connection between fun and alcohol, socialising and drugs. It is a sinister, cynical and deceptive connection. Here in this place the other side of the story can be seen in the damaged lives and wrecked hopes, abuse inevitably produces. As a nation we need to wise up and make the changes to our attitudes and our behaviour which will give our vulnerable young people the leadership and witness to better, healthier and happier alternatives. If we make that change and we are well capable of doing it, we will give our country the gift of a much better quality of life to match the better opportunities and economic achievements created over the past decade. Homes will be happier, streets will be safer, individual lives will be more fulfilled. Instead of struggling individuals we will have strong individuals and strong individuals build a strong community and a strong country. So the investment here in these young people is an investment ultimately in Ireland itself and its future. Aislinn has a special vocation to our young people and in particular to those at risk from addiction. Here you help them to believe in themselves again. You help them to find the inner resources to build better lives. You refuse to give up on them. You guide them towards their own empowerment, with sensitivity, patience and faith. We are very grateful that you do and we are grateful to the young people who come here. Their courage gives us hope that there is a good life to be created beyond addiction. Their commitment gives energy to the Aislinn Centre itself and reassurance to families and to the community who want so badly to see our young people flourish free from the trap of addiction. We are very proud of these young people’s openness to help and their curiosity about the life they could be living beyond addiction and beyond whatever demons real or imaginary that feed abuse.
This Serenity Garden is another important tool in Aislinn’s repair kit. Its twelve symbols based on the 12 step philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous reinforce the message that, with addict and treatment centre working wholeheartedly together, there is a roadmap to freedom from addiction. I love gardening particularly at my grandfather’s cottage in Roscommon where I spend my holidays. I planted a tree there many years ago and came back after one storm to discover it had broken in two and was manifestly dead. I was only down for a short time and decided to leave it until the summer to dig it out by the roots and dump it. When I arrived in July I was astounded to see six new green shoots growing up from the broken stem and today the tree is flourishing even better than it did before the storm damage. So it is with the human person. We are often bent and bowed by life but with a bit of patience and faith we can stand tall again.
I congratulate Sr. Veronica and her staff and everyone involved this day. I thank all those who have given Aislinn the gift of the Serenity Garden - The Department of Health and Children and the South Eastern Health Board who provided both financial and other very practical support, the VEC in Kilkenny which generously provided the wonderfully gifted and talented artists to work on the project and the Art Therapist and residents of Aislinn. You are entitled to take pride in what you have accomplished and on behalf of all of those who will enjoy the fruits of your labour in the years to come, I say thank you. I now take great pleasure in declaring this Serenity Garden officially open.
Go gcúití Dia bhur saothar daoibh. Go raibh maith agaibh.