REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE PRESENTATION OF GRADUATION CERTIFICATES FÁS SPECIAL CARE PROG.
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE PRESENTATION OF GRADUATION CERTIFICATES FÁS SPECIAL CARE PROGRAMME HOLY ANGELS, GLENMAROON
Dia dhíbh a cháirde. Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo libh ar an ócáid speisialta seo. Míle bhuíochas díbh as an chuireadh agus an fháilte.
My thanks to you all for your very warm welcome and thanks also to Walter Freyne for inviting me to share this important day in the lives of today’s graduates of the FÁS Special Care Programmes.
When I worked in a University, graduation day was always my favourite day and I know how excited our twenty-five students are today, how proud their families are, how proud their tutors are. Graduation means, making the grade; it means that each student awarded a certificate today is someone who working incredibly hard to learn new skills, who did not give up when the going got tough, who saw the course through to success.
Well done to each one of you. You have every right to be proud of your achievement and to be applauded for all your hard work and dedication. Your graduation certificate tells family, friends and future employers that you are a skilled person who can be trusted with a difficult job; you are a person who has earned respect as well as earning a valuable qualification. Your families, friends and teachers have helped you along the way and they are thrilled to be here celebrating with you today but important though their help has been and will be, you had to do the work and that is why this is your big day.
People with disabilities have abilities too and that is what this course is all about - making sure those abilities blossom and shine so that all the dreams you have can come true. We all know how big a difference it can make in a life to have a job. It gives us confidence, self- respect, a purpose and money. It allows our talents to make a contribution to the wider society and it makes us feel included in things rather than left out. It is an awful thing to see talent wasted or under-used and we as a society need to do whatever it takes to secure the dignity and independence of every human being. We know that we have a way to go yet to offer the widest range of employment opportunities for people with disabilities. But this is a good time to widen the choice available for these are very good times economically, times when we are learning just how much talent there is in our society and how powerful it is when it is given a chance to shine.
Looking back to the Special Olympics we learnt valuable lessons about the genius and giftedness of those with disability. We marvelled at all that talent and what it taught us about ourselves as a nation. We discovered just how strongly those with disabilities want the opportunity to make their unique contribution to society, how important it is to them and to all of us that their energy is given space and the prospect of inclusion and independence.
I wish to commend both the Daughters of Charity and FÁS for their commitment to this programme which, among other things, provides accredited training and learning to national and international standards together with employment and further educational opportunities. Such an investment means a lot to our graduates and their families. It means a lot to Ireland for it makes our people strong and skilled. A special thank you and good wishes to the Daughters of Charity who have been at the centre of this work for over a century. I wish them every continued success as they begin their second century of service to people with an intellectual disability.
Our graduates are a credit to the Daughters of Charity, to FAS but most of all to themselves for today we salute them with admiration and respect both of which they earned the hard way and hope they enjoy this day of celebration.
Comhghairdeas libh go léir arís inniu. Go n-éirí go geal libh agus go raibh míle, míle maith agaibh.