REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS/COMMUNITY GROUPS ENCOUNTER
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS/COMMUNITY GROUPS ENCOUNTER AT ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
A chairde, cuireann sé áthas orm agus ar mo fhear chéile, Mairtín, fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir chuig Áras an Uachtaráin inniu.
It is a great pleasure for myself and Martin to welcome everybody here today to Áras an Uachtaráin and to extend a special ceád míle fáilte to those of you who have travelled long distances to be with us.
I set you a challenge for today’s encounter and judging from the collages and conversations I’ve had with each group about your projects, I realise that I am obviously in the presence of young people who relish a challenge. I am very impressed with the enthusiasm and imagination you have demonstrated in completing your projects with a local community group. I would like to thank you all for the wonderful collages that you have brought with you and the way in which you have captured the theme of developing community spirit within your own communities. You have set a new benchmark of excellence which other schools who visit the Áras will have to meet.
I hope that you enjoyed working on your chosen projects with a local community group and that you learnt much about the activities within your own community and how you can play a role in building community spirit, in creating a community where everybody looks out for each other.
I would like to thank the community groups who helped you with your projects. I am sure that they are delighted to involve you in community activities and would love you to continue to play your part in your community.
Sometimes we adults need to tell young people how much they matter to all of us. You are extremely important not just to your families, your teachers and friends but to the communities in which you live. Our community, the place where we grow up can have a powerful influence on our lives, it is home to ourselves and our families, to our friends and our neighbours. We each have a responsibility to play our part as members of a community to look after each other and to make everyone who lives within our community feel valued.
Through your work here today each one of you has demonstrated the potential within you to build a better society for all. Each of you has it within your capacity to forge bridges of hope, of understanding, of respect with those close to you and with your communities.
These are the values which will serve you well in later life, whatever path you choose. And they are also the values on which a decent society is built, a society in which no child grows up in poverty, scarred by prejudice and exclusion, by hatred or neglect. You are the generation that will have the capacity to build such a society, if you use your talents generously and well, in the service of others. And from all of the optimism, selflessness and enthusiasm that is here in this room, I believe there is great hope for the future.
We have enjoyed many events in this room, Seomra de hIde, but today there is a wonderful sense of energy here and this only happens when it is filled with young people, with the vitality and curiosity and enthusiasm that each of you brings with you.
I hope that you take the opportunity of making friends with members of other schools here today. Afterwards you can stroll through the gardens and have a look at the formal rooms in the Áras. This house tells its own story of the people of Ireland and of our relationship with our nearest neighbour, Britain. It is a place for all traditions and cultures of this island to share.
I would like to thank everyone who has made this a special day. Our thanks to Teresa O Donnell whose beautiful harp playing greeted you in the front hall.
Great thanks also to our wonderful MC for the afternoon, Stephen Holland, and to our Seomra de hIde entertainers, the Copper Jugs Céilí Band, Marie McCaffery and Brendan Murray. I would like to thank them for making today a wonderful day for our young visitors.
I hope you have a wonderful time here today and that you return home with many happy memories of your visit to the Áras.