REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SHANTY EDUCATIONAL
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SHANTY EDUCATIONAL PROJECT AN COSÁN
Tá áthas orm bheith anseo i bhur measc inniu. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl daoibh as ucht bhur bhfáilte chaoin.
I warmly welcome this opportunity to visit such a fine centre and to join in the 15th birthday celebrations of The Shanty Educational Project – An Cosán. My thanks to Rosemarie McGill, Chief Executive for her kind invitation which allows me to share a day so special to all of you, a day long worked for and long to be remembered.
There would be nothing to celebrate if it were not for the wonderful work of the volunteers at this centre over the years and in this, the International Year of the Volunteer it is essential that we stop, take a few moments to say thank you and a few more to remind ourselves just how bleak our lives would be if we did not have people who cared about each other as you do, and if we did not have people who are prepared to do the work of showing that they care, day in and day out, year in and year out.
At the heart of An Cosán is a deep understanding that community is something essential to humanly decent lives, it is something that does not clatter together by coincidence, it has to be built painstakingly by courageous and energetic people who are presented with chaos, but who are able to chart a pathway through it, for those who are sometimes overwhelmed by life’s adversities. To be excluded in bad times is difficult enough, to be excluded in good times is to know a level of lostness and despair that is heightened by the apparent rapid success of everything and everyone else around you.
Our newfound economic prosperity has helped dramatically in the battle to reduce poverty and social exclusion, unemployment is less than 4%, job creation is high and we are entitled to take both pride in and hope from these good times. But we know there are still many, many people in this country who are experiencing the isolation of being left behind, people who feel as if they are no more than spectators at life rather than full participants. It is easy to be fearful of being forgotten.
But thankfully there are people throughout Ireland, in every community, people like those involved in the Shanty Educational Project here in Jobstown who are prepared to commit their lives to bringing about a nation of truly equal opportunity and who see Ireland as unfinished business until that day arrives.
Community building always needs the kick-start of visionary leadership and that was provided, starting fifteen years ago by two pioneering women, when Ann Louise Gilligan and Katherine Zappone began running courses in their own home in Brittas. That was the seed from which grew the Shanty Educational Project and these fine premises purpose built two years ago.
Your philosophy recognises that education holds the key to eradicating poverty and social injustice; that it is women who often suffer the effects of the burden of poverty worst, that by educating women you educate the family, that the liberation of one person’s talent, the making of one resilient human being is the only sure pathway to the creation of effective, resilient achieving communities. The truth of your message is vindicated in the fact that over 250 women per week attend ‘second chance’ educational programmes at the Shanty - your success tells its own powerful story.
The extensive range of services and facilities provided here tell another story, a story about the very practical responses that a local group or community can make when they take up the challenge to meet the needs of that community. Without childcare facilities nearby most women couldn’t even contemplate taking up educational opportunities, but here at An Cosán, Rainbow House offers free high-quality educational childcare to children from three months to four years of age, supporting the work of The Shanty. I would like to commend Rainbow House for its outward looking and comprehensive approach to child-care – I understand that later this autumn it will organise an important national conference on positive child protection and that despite opening its doors only two short years ago has already been cited as an example of best practice.
Weaving Dreams is another of An Cosán’s success stories – it came into being as a single course in spinning and weaving and now employs a number of local people on a full-time and part-time basis. Such is the quality of the wall hangings, floor coverings, footwear and dolls produced here that the Crafts Council has recently nominated Weaving Dreams for the Q mark. As I look around at this vibrant place which has realised so many dreams, provided so many second chances, it is clear that you have a lot to celebrate. The first steps on that early pathway have taken you down a very important and reassuring road. Yet the work is relentless and demanding - all the more reason then to draw breath on a birthday, look back and count all the achievements, take time to be amazed and proud and then turn to the future with the energy that comes from knowing you can do it because you have been tested and have shown that you can.
The Shanty has been eagerly supported and has built a strong working relationship with the Department of Education and Science and with County Dublin VEC, helping to provide both an important literacy programme and an IT skills programme. As patron to the National Adult Literacy Agency I have a very special interest in this area and I am very aware and appreciative of the vitally important work done by many groups and individuals throughout the country to rid our society of the scourge of illiteracy and its toxic downstream consequences which poison so many lovely lives with underachievement, profound unhappiness and isolation.
By working in partnership with other State bodies including the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs and the Eastern Regional Health Authority, The Shanty is a shining example of what can be achieved when statutory and voluntary sectors work hand in hand for the benefit of the community. No one part of the jigsaw holds all the answers but put them together and the community gets the benefit of the very best use of resources. Whatever your part of the jigsaw, I offer my thanks for a job well done. Whether you started the project, or kept it going, or contributed practical support or encouragement to its success over the last 15 years - this day is yours. The people of West Tallaght are entitled to look back with pride and to look forward with real hope to better times to come - An Cosán is already paving a sure pathway to those times and they cannot come quickly enough. Today’s Ireland is a country doing well but with a few cylinders still to fire and add their energy to the rest. I look forward to that Ireland - firing on all cylinders with your help.
I wish you every success in your important work.
Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.