REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE PRESENTATION TO GRADUATES OF THE DIGITAL COMMUNITY PROJECT
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES TO GRADUATES OF THE DIGITAL COMMUNITY PROJECT, DIT
Dia dhíbh a cháirde tráthnóna. Tá an áthas orm bheith i bhur measc ar an ócáid speisialta seo.
Professor Brian Norton (President DIT) Jacinta Stewart (CEO City of Dublin VEC) Members of the Governing Body, Ladies and Gentlemen and Students.
It is good to be here with you today on a very important day in the calendar of the Dublin Institute of Technology - the presentation of certificates to the students of the Digital Community Project who have completed FETAC, IC3 and Teacher Training Module courses.
I would like to thank Dr Tommy Cooke, Head of Community Links in DIT, for inviting me to present certificates and to share in this celebration of the tremendous achievement of these students. This graduation day is a day of deep pride for the students themselves, for their families, their teachers and for our country for here are men and women who did not have life easy, who have had to struggle to arrive at this day and who have earned our respect as well as their certificate, the hard way.
There was as time in Ireland when education was open only to the privileged few, when we wasted the talents and damaged the confidence of too many of our people. There was a time when the idea of second chance education did not exist and people had little chance to change their lives in the way that only education can change a life, by opening up our gifts and talents, revealing them and giving them a skill and a voice. Things have changed for the better and everyone acknowledges that Ireland’s phenomenal economic success owes a lot to widening access to a good education. The brain power of our people is our best and biggest natural resource and we are so grateful to education providers like the DIT for encouraging and welcoming students from every background and circumstance. Your investment in every student creates opportunities for a more fulfilled life, strengthens the individual, the family, communities and indeed our country. We are especially grateful to all the students who use the opportunities for education offered by the DIT and by this course in particular, for you offer us the hope that our republic is a place that is striving to make sure no one lives on the margins, that all are fully socially included.
We know that not enough people from the inner-city go on to third level education. This programme was set up to change that and we are also grateful to the huge partnership that came together to deliver this second chance, the DIT, Hewlett Packard, Dublin City Council, the Digital Hub, Eircom, Dublin Inner City Partnership, the National Centre for Technology in Education, Microsoft, Prodigy, and the City of Dublin VEC, the primary and second-level schools in inner Dublin and the students who participated in the "buddy" mentoring system.
The “training the trainers” concept is our best guarantee that the benefits of the project will roll out quickly and reach deep into the heart of community acting like a leaven. Already the Project operates in 12 centres and its success can be measured by the more than 750 students who have attended courses so far and the 185 children who have taken part in homework clubs. There can be no question about it, this is a success story built on individual achievements and on working together.
The group of students who we honour today have changed their own futures, created new options for themselves which, I am sure, we all wish them well in. The certificates that you receive today are about creating opportunities for further education and employment. They can also be viewed as passports for job opportunities abroad as they are recognised internationally and not only in Ireland.
You are on a journey which you volunteered for, committed to and which has already brought you to the destination of huge personal success. Your commitment and skills have been tested, scrutinised, examined and you have shone through. We know you are people of ability, of character and of determination, the kind of problem-solvers all communities need to be strong and resilient. I hope the same story will be told in my home city of Belfast where the Project is being replicated. I was thrilled to open the Dominic Street centre last year and now to be here, to see what it connects to and where it all leads, gives me a great feeling of pride and hope. I imagine Tommy Cooke feels much the same at this first awards ceremony for he has driven the vision behind this project with real passion since 1996. He deserves a special thank you as do to the co-ordinators, staff, students, teachers and residents of the twelve centres. This day is your day of success and pride too. Enjoy it and look forward with confidence to many more and to the changed times they will bring to so many homes and hearts.
Comhghairdeas libh arís go léir inniu agus go raibh míle maith agaibh.