REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON RECEIVING AN HONORARY FELLOWSHIP FROM THE FACULTY OF RADIOLOGISTS
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON RECEIVING AN HONORARY FELLOWSHIP FROM THE FACULTY OF RADIOLOGISTS, ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS
Is mór an pleisuir dom bheith anseo i bhúr measc anocht, agus ba mhaith liom mo fhíorbhuíochas a chur in iúl daoibh as an chuireadh agus and onoir speisialta seo.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, fellows and members of the Faculty of Radiologists.
I am very appreciative of the honour conferred on me by the Faculty and I congratulate my fellow Honorary Fellowship awardees. I am particularly proud to be the first non‑clinician Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Radiologists and proud to be married to a member of the dental profession which way back in the 1890’s was very quick to see the value of the then newly-discovered X-ray.
In the forty-five years since the Faculty of Radiology was established in 1961 your discipline has undergone seismic change. Thanks to you, Ireland enjoys worldwide recognition and respect in the field of radiology and, of course, alongside the legendary pioneering names of Rontgen and Curie we find our own WS Haughton. Today along with the word Xray, we have become familiar with the newer medical imaging technologies of ultrasound, CT and MRI scans and we know, too, that far beyond your pivotal role in diagnosis, the role of radiology in treatment of disease is growing and developing apace. One thing perplexes me, and now as a Fellow of the Faculty and sometime user of these diagnostic services, I am going to muse out loud on the source of that perplexity – and it is this – how is it that with all this sophisticated technology the hapless patient is left still wondering if the gown is on the right way round and trying unsuccessfully to pull two short ends towards an embarrassing middle either front or back? Would Velcro and discreet side openings offend some radiological principle or just your mischievous sense of humour!
Back in the 1960s when Ireland’s remarkable contemporary journey was still a far-off dream, this Faculty of Radiologists set itself, and Ireland, a fresh new agenda which would promote the highest standards in radiology practice, training and education. You set up the first structured medical postgraduate training programme in Ireland. Through international validation of the National Training Programme you ensured that Ireland’s radiologists met the most stringent international standards. And you have secured such a high reputation for excellence that the Faculty is in demand to provide training in many parts of the world.
We are fortunate to meet forty-five years on in the Ireland of 2006 and what a phenomenal Ireland it is – the economic success story of the European Union – but it’s a story that could not have happened, and cannot be sustained without a strong impulse for change, a dynamic intellectual curiosity, and a righteous impatience that drive forward and insist on constant improvement. You understand this culture well for it brought this faculty into existence and has been central to its ethos. These are the very same characteristics which are at the heart of the exacting standards and high level of services the public now expects and demands from our health sector. They translate into huge pressure on Institutions like the College and the Faculty, which along with the rest of society is coming to terms with the rapidly changing face of Ireland and the confident, insistent voice of its people.
Whether users or providers of health care services we all want the same thing – a top‑class, easily accessed, patient-centred service. You are the custodians of radiological services and standards. Through your work the imprint of this still new‑born, twenty-first‑century will radically shift our expectations and experience of radiological services. There will inevitably be battles over resources and facilities – each one of them a sure sign of that restless insistence on the best, that new mood that has transformed Ireland from “ceann faoi” to “can do”. You have played a key role in that overall national transformative process, taking responsibility for the pursuit of excellence in this fundamental area of medical science and delivering it.
I thank you for all the work done so quietly in hospitals, clinics, laboratories all over Ireland. If it often seems to go unremarked in the push‑me‑pull‑you of public debate, we know how profoundly it impacts on individuals and families, bringing answers, bringing hope. Your work at home makes us strong, your work abroad makes us proud.
To Dean Dr Éamann Breathnach, the Faculty of Radiologists, and the Royal College of Surgeons, I offer my thanks for your devotion and fidelity to this outstanding vocation and I wish you even greater success in the future.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.