REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO CELEBRATE THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PARTICIPANTS AND PROMOTERS
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO CELEBRATE THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF PARTICIPANTS AND PROMOTERS OF THE GATEWAY PROJECT ARRAN QUAY
Tá gliondar croí orm bheith anseo libh inniu ag an ócáid speisalta seo agus ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl díbh as bhur gcaoin-chuireadh.
I was delighted to be invited by Carmel Brien to join with you on this very important, this very special occasion. My thanks to you Carmel, to the hotel management and staff and to everyone else here for the very generous and warm welcome.
Days like today lift all our hearts - today we celebrate the wonderful achievements of the many women who have set out on a voyage of self-discovery and who grew and developed and broadened horizons and realised dreams – all brought about thanks to the Gateway Project and the life-enriching, life-enhancing opportunities it has offered.
Gateway is all about opportunities, about giving people fresh choices in their lives, the kind of choices through which lives are changed for the better. In its very short history – only six years, it has achieved so much. It has set about removing the barriers that stood in the way of opportunity. Some of those barriers were physical, others no less powerful were in hearts and minds, lack of confidence, fear, each holding women back from truly getting to know their own worth. Gateway’s supportive and encouraging environment was and is a crucial factor in reducing those old, paralysing barriers. It has allowed many women to avail of the diverse and wide range of skills training and opportunities for personal development – from computer courses to communication skills, from English to photography, book-keeping to internal design. There are a few I wouldn’t mind having a go at myself – where would I get an application?
What you do at the Gateway Project and do so well, is to answer the needs of women who for one reason or another have not known the joy and the self-assurance that comes from having skills and training to compete with others, or having their fullest range of gifts and talents harvested and harnessed. There are few things as sad as a life half-lived because of under-achievement. But it is more than sad, it is so wasteful of life itself and not only does the individual suffer, we all suffer as a society. We flourish when individuals flourish, when their lives are full of hope and enriched by their own fully revealed abilities. That is why Gateway and other projects like it are so important, because they refuse to accept the inevitability of disadvantage, they refuse to accept the waste of talent that life on the margins represents. Gateway believes in our people and in their right to be at the centre, living the best lives they possibly can.
Could there be any finer commendation or accolade than the words of some of the participants. One woman I recall said “Gateway gave me a chance no-one else ever gave me.” Another said “I’m beginning to realise I can do things I never dreamt I could do” and yet another “It’s changed my life.”
The North West Inner City Women’s Network did something hugely important in 1996 for women in this area of Dublin when their inspired thinking made this Project a reality. Each individual helped to greater self-belief, helps our country to become more resilient. The fabric of our civic society is strengthened - our claim to be a caring society is vindicated. But of course any opportunity that is offered is only made truly meaningful when it is taken up, when people commit to it and Gateway’s successes are the people who took the chances it offered, who did the work and whose dedication and success is the energy that keeps Gateway going.
The participants receiving certificates today deserve our congratulations for all they have done to earn this day. They also deserve our thanks for seizing the fresh chances, for actually making Gateway work. As George Eliot so rightly said “it is never too late to be what you might have been”. Today we know that you have tested and stretched yourselves and you have come through brilliantly. You have surprised yourselves and earned the respect of your Gateway team, your friends and family. All of us say a resounding well done and we all wish you well in whatever comes next in your lives and wherever this experience takes you.
The community that is Gateway is entitled to feel proud today and to look to the future with enthusiasm because you know it is a future you can put your shape on, a future you can change. I wish you all every success and fulfilment as you keep on striving to get better and better and I thank you for all you do to keep our country focussed on realising the dream of the founders of our Republic - a dream that will see every human being living life fully, no false and unnecessary barriers, but as straight a road as we can create together.
Guím rath is séan oraibh go léir sa todhchaí. Go raibh maith agaibh.