REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE PRESENTATION OF AWARDS TO THE ALL IRELAND SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE PRESENTATION OF AWARDS TO THE ALL IRELAND SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS, CONCERT HALL, UL
A Airí uaisle, a phríomhoidí, a mhic léinn agus a thuismitheoirí, agus a chairde uile, is onór domsa bheith in bhur láthair inniu do bhronnadh scoláireachtaí tríú leibhéal na bliana 2009 de chuid na scéime tras-teorainn seo faoi choimirce J.P.McManus agus na Ranna Oideachais. Comhartha an ócáid seo go bhfuil an dlúth-cheangal agus gaol idir phobail an oileáin seo ó thuaidh agus ó dheas á neartú de réir a chéile. Comhartha í freisin den toradh agus den maitheas gur féidir a bhaint amach nuair is léir do lucht rialtais agus don earnáil phríomháideach araon na buanna a bhaineann leis an gcomhoibriú eatarthu.
Minister O’Keeffe, Minister Ruane, J.P. and Noreen McManus, ladies and gentlemen and All Ireland Scholarship winners. What a happy event this is when we gather in the beautiful concert hall of the University of Limerick in the company of both Ministers of Education on this island, in the company of students from all over Ireland, to encourage them in their education through the practical financial help of these awards.
Behind the awards is an act of generosity. JP McManus’ philanthropy is legendary. It is expressed in many different ways but all of them are about investing in people so that they get the chance to make the very best of their lives. Thanks to that generosity we now have a fine partnership between public and private endeavour which has made these Scholarships possible and helped them to change the trajectory of the awardees’ lives.
The All Ireland Scholarships are designed to make sure that bright and committed school leavers who are ambitious to go on to higher education are not thwarted in that ambition by lack of financial resources. So many lives in the past were only half-lived, so many talents wasted, so much potential still-born because the personal obstacles faced by individuals were too overwhelming. These awards now happily extended to include students in Northern Ireland are also a very reassuring sign of the growing good neighbourliness and common vested interests between north and south. The presence of both Ministers for Education here today is testimony to the centrality of education to the future prosperity and wellbeing of all who share this island.
It was William Butler Yeats who reminded us that “education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.” We need young people who are lit up from the inside by an unquenchable intellectual curiosity, who are capable of the fresh thinking, the rigorous critiquing, the imaginative creativity that helps the onward march of humanity to better, fairer, more peaceful, more fulfilling times. Those young people are the basic building blocks of this island’s future and in our awardees we have found solid bedrock.
Here are young men and women of character and courage, dedication and diligence, ambition and ability. It’s a great mix, just what this world needs and so having invested so much of themselves in trying to perform to their very best potential, it is only right that they should have as straight a path as possible to the next important phase of their education.
Their pathway to fullest enjoyment of their third-level studies will have been made a little smoother by the award of this scholarship and not just economically important though that is. There is too the confidence that comes from knowing that complete strangers have been so impressed by you that they have invested in your future without asking anything in return beyond that you keep on making yourself as strong as you possibly can be, for the stronger you are as individuals, the stronger we all are collectively. The more talents you hone and develop as individuals, the richer the pool of talents we have available to build a future on this island that everyone can share in and be proud of.
You should know that we are already very proud of you. We share that pride with your families today and hope that they will think the long journey from so many parts of Ireland and Northern Ireland more than worthwhile. It was your parents who were your first teachers and so they share in your achievements in a very real way. Your school teachers too have played a key role in your arrival on this platform and preparing you for the journey from here to the world beyond. You will find the world a certain shape and it will almost certainly be a shape that needs altering. You can be the shapers of tomorrow if you choose or you can be the spectators while others do the shaping. It’s a choice that only you can make but already in all you have done there is a strong suggestion that you are the solvers of problems, you are the doers, you are not just the dreamers of dreams but the most likely to make those dreams come true. We believe in you and we hope that these awards help you to believe in yourselves.
Congratulations to all our awardees and enjoy the next exciting steps on your life’s journey. Comhghairdeas libh inniu agus gurb fada buan sibh. Go raibh maith agaibh.