SPEECH BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR WOMEN’S GROUPS THROUGHOUT IRELAND
SPEECH BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR WOMEN’S GROUPS THROUGHOUT IRELAND IN ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
Tá an-áthas orm fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir go dtí Áras an Uachtaráin inniu.
I am delighted to welcome each and every one of you to the Áras today.
The groups and organisations represented here today come from every part of this island and the work they do covers a wide spectrum of services, interests and activities – from personal development, to business, to family support and community activities. What you do is important to individuals and to communities. What you do is essential to the civic strength and health of our shared island home. A lot of what you do is done voluntarily, for no reward other than the transcendent fulfillment that comes from sharing part of your life with others in a way that builds all of us up humanly. What you do is not done for thanks but nonetheless it deserves our gratitude, for in a world where there is a daily litany of distressing news which tells us of the evil, hurt and horror human beings inflict on one another, what you do renews our hope and our trust. What is more, in a world that has yet to fully understand the colossal, immoral waste that results from the failure to truly empower women, your work showcases that empowerment at work in a thousand different and successful ways.
Through your work the contribution of women to the fabric of society has come to be better understood and appreciated, better valued by women themselves and by the broader society. You have contributed to the rapid improvement in the status of Irish women and they in turn have contributed hugely to making Ireland the prosperous country it is today. The history of women’s contribution to society down through the centuries has so often remained unacknowledged. I have a set of books published by the Encyclopaedia Britannia entitled ‘The Great Ideas’. They purport to be a history of hundreds of years of great ideas from Plato and Socrates to the modern day. You have to get to volume 56 before a woman is even mentioned. Your work is making sure that in the next fifty volumes men will have to fight for space, but even more important, your work is an essential bridge to a more decent, fully inclusive and caring society. While we have already achieved much, we know we have still only scratched the surface of what is possible. Working on our own brings some rewards but working together gives us a power of a different order entirely. So I hope that apart from having a happy day together maybe here as you mingle with strangers, swap stories and experiences, a new network of friendships will emerge and who knows what fresh ideas and energy they will spark.
I am very grateful that you are here today and on your behalf and my own I would like to say a special word of thanks to our entertainers for today’s reception – the Kylemore College String Quartet, our MC for the day, Mr. Paul Kennedy, and our harpist Orla Kelly, our first aider, Mr. John Gould, and indeed all the staff here at Áras who have helped to make this day very special and enjoyable.
Go raibh maith agaibh.