SPEECH BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAUNCH OF THE 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION
SPEECH BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAUNCH OF THE 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE INSTITUTE
Go raibh míle maith agaibh as ucht bhur bhfáilte caoin. Is mór an onóir dom bheith i lathair ag an comoradh seo.
I am really pleased to be part of this day of celebration when we mark the fiftieth birthday of the Institute’s journal ‘Administration’ with the launch of a special commemorative edition. I am grateful to your Director, John Cullen for inviting me to join you on this notable day.
It should be the easiest thing in the world to describe as impressive the roll call of names who have written for ‘Administration’ over the years - with champions like Ken Whitaker, John Hume, Sean Lemass, Basil Chubb, Kader Asmal to name only a handful. But since my name appears among them and the rewards of narcissism are usually pretty embarrassing I am going to move rapidly from the names of contributors to the contribution this journal has made to our changed and changing Ireland.
The commemorative edition with its reflections on administration and social policy over the past fifty years is itself a startling reminder of the phenomenal level of change this country has absorbed in the fifty years “Administration” has been in existence. It is hard to believe that such was the pervasive aura of secrecy in which ‘Administration’ was born that the first publishers were careful to ensure that it would not offend their political masters, the editor, Tom Barrington, was not identified and it was not for sale publicly. Today such coyness hardly seems believable. But, it is a tribute to those founding members of the Institute of Public Administration that they managed to circumvent the censorious nature of Irish society at the time and create a journal which has since become such an important part of our administrative education system. ‘Administration’ provided an opportunity for those who live in, work and study the Irish system of governance to reflect on it, to discuss it and to facilitate its growing coherence, its expanding imagination.
The Institute of Public Administration itself has been crucial to the evolution of the Irish system of governance. It has accompanied Ireland on its remarkable journey from “ceann faoi” to “can do”, preparing generations of administrative personnel for the emerging Ireland with its innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, its successful relocation right at the turbulent forefront of global economics and its accompanying widespread social change.
Wise, intuitive and skilled leadership have been essential to this almost giddy period of transformation. It has needed people whose curiosity about how much better Ireland could become, allowed them to unlearn old, redundant ways, to take risks, to shift priorities, to widen their ambitions for self and for Ireland. The Institute’s sure-footed embrace of change gave a crucial lead and “Administration” was often the place where those feet were first tentatively dipped in the waters of possibility. It is hugely to the credit of the Institute of Public Administration that its work, publications, education research and training, helped prise open a closed Ireland and let the future in.
The Commemorative Edition is a timely reminder to this, the most privileged generation ever to have lived in Ireland of how real their debt is to the Institute among many others who championed this successful, prospering and hope-filled Ireland. The old proverb says “Let those who drink the water remember with gratitude those who dug the well”. This special edition and this anniversary call us to do that, to be grateful and to vindicate all the work which has brought about these better times by using them well. This Institute and this journal have been invaluable guides thus far and I wish them well on Ireland’s continuing journey towards embedded prosperity with full social inclusion.
President and Chairperson, Director General, editors, contributors to ‘Administration’, I offer my congratulations and a sincere thank you for the service provided to our nation over the last fifty years, a service to be proud of and to build on.
Go raibh maith agaibh.