REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE 25th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE 25th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NAVAN CENTRE OF ACCORD
Is cúis mhór áthais dom bheith anseo inniu agus muid ag ceiliúradh fiche bliain is cuíg dul chun chinn. Go raibh míle maith agaibh as an chaoin-chuireadh.
I am delighted to have this opportunity to join you here today as we pay tribute to the achievements of the Navan Branch of ACCORD over the past 25 years. The steady increase in the number of couples who have been helped by ACCORD down through the years is, I suppose, a mixed blessing – but it shows that the problem of marriage breakdown is more recognised, more out in the open than in the past; and that couples are, thankfully, more willing to come forward to avail of the help that is now there.
Just today, one of my staff members told me about a phone call she received from a woman who had to cancel her visit to the Áras. She had been invited to a reception with her husband and family but sadly, their marriage ended over Christmas. She needed someone to listen.
This service which you have provided for the past twenty-five years has been invaluable to those men and women experiencing difficulties in their marriage and desperately needing an objective listener.
Couples in difficulty are fortunate when they have the support of people who care, with the kind of sensitivity that helps rather than hinders the resolution of their problems. It is essential that there are experienced people like you who refuse to accept that nothing can be done and even more importantly, people who don’t wait for someone else to make a start. The cynics see the problems around them and lament: – “what a mess” – but you see problems and say what can I do to change things for the better! The doers sow the seeds from which a better future grows. You deal with very fragile plants when you deal with fraught relationships. Their complexities call for a range of specialist, comprehensive and credible services. They call for a service which can be trusted, caring, utterly discreet and reliable, a friend for the long haul. That is what they find here in Accord in Navan.
ACCORD in Navan offers a very extensive range of services, from school programmes, counselling for children and personal enrichment courses, to specialised services in natural Family Planning, Fertility Counselling and Marital Sex Therapy. These are important developments and show the professionalism and the comprehensively up-to-date nature of your response to the growing needs of our society. This professionalism deserves particular praise given the voluntary nature of so much of your work. This year 2001 marks the UN Year of the Volunteer, and it is fitting therefore in your silver jubilee year, that you take a just and righteous pride knowing that the work that you do is appreciated.
With over 1,000 trained counsellors, working in a voluntary capacity from over 50 centres throughout Ireland, ACCORD is a testimony to vital work of the voluntary movement in Ireland – a movement underpinned by the goodwill and dedication of so many people who are willing to give up their own time to help their neighbours and larger community. Your work helps to build a continuity and stability in society within which marriage and families may be strengthened and nurtured. The tens of thousands of couples over the past twenty-five years for whom ACCORD’s counselling and support have been a lifeline – have every reason to be grateful for that sense of caring, determination and commitment of people like yourselves who set the ball rolling all those years ago.
I would like to pay tribute to all staff and volunteers of the Navan centre of ACCORD, past and present, for all your work over the last 25 years. It has made an enormous difference to lots of Irish families. And while attitudes towards the services you provide have changed enormously, and for the better, over that time, there is no doubt that the work of ACCORD remains as vital as ever. On behalf of all the people of Ireland I would like to say a heartfelt “comhghairdeachas agus go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir”.