REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE, ON THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE NEW OFFICES OF ICAP
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE, ON THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE NEW OFFICES OF ICAP (IMMIGRANT COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY)
It is a great thrill to be back with ICAP after a six-year gap and to have been invited to officially open ICAP’s new offices on Moray Road. The last time I was here I launched your new offices too - just next door to this fine Church and it is pretty obvious you have been busy, very busy in the meanwhile. These new premises and the development of your service is proof positive of the value of what you do, how needed it is.
I know that, wherever on this island the Irish community gathers in their many centres and homes from home, they offer care to one another, advice and all sorts of help, support and encouragement.
At times in our lives though, we may need a different level of support with a clear focus on our mental and psychological wellbeing, for there is plenty of research to tell us that the emigrant is at much greater risk of ill-health and the Irish emigrant in particular. That is the special vocation ICAP has and it is a very important one. Here you have created a welcoming haven for those who carry brokenness inside them - a quiet and dignified space for those whose heads and hearts are full of unhappy noise and thoughts.
Of particular importance is the work ICAP is doing with the Irish Department of Health and Children on behalf of those who suffered abuse as children while in the care of institutions of the Irish State. Their stories would make a saint storm heaven and now is the time for as much healing as possible in those lives so damaged, so wasted, so tragic where the distress still casts long shadows decades later. Counselling, we know, cannot reconstruct a childhood but it can help to make an adult life more coherent, more complete, more healed. It can offer effective emotional support and an introduction to life-strategies to help people reclaim their health, deal with their past stories and get on with their futures, less burdened.
The contribution that the Irish community has made to modern British society is a source of pride to all of us. Those who came here in the lean years of the 1940s and 50s, who courageously started a new life abroad, embody a strength of spirit, of resolution and resilience that deserves to be long remembered. Many made good lives for themselves and for their children, they flourished and prospered. Some descended into loneliness, depression, alcohol and endless struggle.
In more recent decades, as Ireland has grown in prosperity, the story of emigration has been reversed with more people migrating to Ireland than from it, including many returning Irish emigrants. Those who come to Britain now tend to be well-educated professionals, confident and capable but that is not the story of all and there are still those who experience the devastation of overwhelming loneliness and social isolation. All need a friend, all need a place to feel counted, to nurture hope. Britain and Ireland are both countries which have an ambition to be fully socially inclusive and that means ensuring that the energy, talent and giftedness of each citizen is given the best chance to flourish.
The Federation of Irish Societies is hosting a conference here in London next week entitled ‘The Irish Die Younger’ to highlight the unique health experience of the Irish in Britain and, of course, it is no secret that mental health has been identified as a significant factor in the overall picture of ill-health. In the days when the relationship between Ireland and Britain was less neighbourly, in particular throughout the period of the Troubles, that, combined with history’s legacy and other cultural, religious and socio-economic differences, made some Irish people feel unaccepted and unacceptable in Britain. That strain has had measurable health consequences. And the problems do not end with those born in Ireland but extend into subsequent generations as they cope with two identities, British and Irish, not always easily reconciled and sometimes leaving victims fully at home, psychologically, neither in Ireland nor Britain.
Dealing upfront with these problems led to the foundation of ICAP and its existence has added a new and important dimension to the rich fabric of Irish community organisations throughout Britain for, though based here in North London, you have another therapy centre in Birmingham and a network of therapists across Britain. It is really heartening to see that this service also extends to other emigrant communities and not just to the Irish. Your experience will be of great help to Ireland itself as we try to adapt well and intelligently as well as caringly to the many new migrants to Ireland’s shores. We who have such an experience as emigrants have little excuse for getting it wrong and we have every chance to get it right.
We are today not just a wealthy country but a people-wealthy country - a place with a growing population, where there is opportunity, there is education, there are jobs and there is a phenomenal cultural diversity capable of generating the most dynamic, imaginative Irish generation ever. That I believe we owe not just to those citizens who live in today’s Ireland but in particular to those who never had the privilege of staying, who reluctantly took the emigrant ship, who endured the hardships, who sent the hard-earned pounds home and who are part of Ireland’s global family, part of its ongoing care. ICAP is the hands of that care expressed day in and day out.
Congratulations to all those who so successfully did the fundraising necessary to acquire and refurbish 96 Moray Road and who have grown ICAP’s ambition as well as its services. This is the realisation of Teresa Gallagher’s dream and though she is now back home in Ireland, the dream has many supporters and friends. I wish Gary Fereday every success and the best of Irish luck as Chief Executive.
Thank you once again for inviting me, and my husband Martin, to be part of this special day - and to all ICAP’s staff, volunteers and clients - a happy and healthy 2007.
Gurb fada buan sibh’s go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.