REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE COMPUTER CENTRE IN DOMINICK STREET, DUBLIN 1
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE COMPUTER CENTRE IN DOMINICK STREET, DUBLIN 1, FRIDAY, 28TH MAY, 2004
Dia dhíbh a cháirde. Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo libh ar an ócáid speisialta seo.
As President I attend many enjoyable and memorable functions and official openings and the best among them are in celebration of local community partnership-based projects for they showcase the spirit, the heart, the drive, the ambition and the hard work of a bunch of one time strangers who have transformed themselves into a caring and an achieving community. That is what brings us to Dominick Street today and to the opening of this very fine computer centre.
In Ireland in recent years we have seen how much technology has grown in influence on our lives. I visited the National Archives in recent weeks for example and discovered that more people access the Archives on line than visit in person. We can now shop on line, bank on line, apply for jobs on line, complete tax returns on line (well not everything can be a good news story). And that’s only the Internet. Mobile telephony allows us to text and email each other, it’s a camera, a calculator, a diary, connects to all sorts of gadgets through bluetooth and infra-red, plays music and into the bargain we can even make telephone calls on it! And then there’s the evolution in children’s game-playing. Suffice to say that in a blink of an eye we seem to have moved from ‘cowboys and Indians’ to ‘PS2’, but we won’t go there!
Technology has also changed the way we work, where we work and when we work. People in offices no longer seem to work on the 6th or 7th floor but in ‘virtual offices’ – no desk, no chair, nothing. The front seat of a car, the sitting room at home, seem to be as likely a place to find someone’s workstation as any office. What is abundantly clear from this workplace transformation or revolution is that many traditional ways of working have gone forever and that new skills, especially skills in information technology, are now needed to get a huge range of jobs.
But not everyone saw these changes coming down the track and even if they did wouldn’t have known how to climb on board this fast moving train. Because in part it wasn’t just the technology itself that was hard to fathom but it came with its own language indecipherable to so many, which created its own barriers. And so now we talk about the “Digital Divide” where people with access to new technologies gain knowledge and skills and those who don’t have access have no way of acquiring those same skills and knowledge.
Our society has a belief in equality of opportunity and an ambition for a country where everyone gets the chance to shine, so divides, digital or otherwise are unacceptable for they prevent human beings from achieving their best and fullest potential. They waste talent and that is a big loss to the individual, to the community and our country - it is like a car with four cylinders, using only one
Here in Dominick Street, you have set about bridging that “Digital Divide” through your involvement in the Digital Community Project. Today, yours is a community that is becoming increasingly comfortable with that vast and exciting and ever-changing world of information and communication technologies which opens up so many possibilities for people. Your community now has an important access point to that world and whether your interest is to learn the basics, or master these new technologies or indeed receive formal qualifications the opportunity is here for you.
For a project like the Digital Community Project to be successful it needs both vision and also commitment and a lot of hard work to make it happen. There is a remarkable and dynamic partnership behind this project, that made today and other days like it possible. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to: Dr Tommy Cooke and his team in the Community Links Programme of the Dublin Institute of Technology for their infectious enthusiasm and for administering the project; to Hewlett Packard Ltd. for their generosity in donating computer equipment to each of the communities in this project and for their continuous support over many years to a large number of schools; to Dublin City Council who have provided the premises and its infrastructure; the Department of Education and Science through the National Centre for Technology in Education for their support and assistance with the training of trainers; the Digital Hub for the provision of technical support, software and training facilities; the support of the Dublin Inner City Partnership; and Eircom for supplying broadband Internet access.
What this place represents is quite simply an opportunity - a great life-changing opportunity. Like all opportunities it only works if you use it so I would encourage the residents of Dominick Street to put it to use in their lives. It is fun, it is the future, it opens doors. It is better than waiting for your life to be transformed by winning the Lotto - the chances of that are very small. With this facility the chances of making great advances in your life and great changes is on your doorstep - all you have to do is cross the threshold.
It gives me great pleasure to declare this new Computer Centre for the Dominick Street residents officially open.
Comhghairdeachas libh go léir. Go raibh maith agaibh.