REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF RIVERSIDE PARK, KANTURK, COUNTY CORK
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF RIVERSIDE PARK, KANTURK, COUNTY CORK ON TUESDAY 7 JULY, 1998
I want to thank you for the warm reception which I have received today in Kanturk - and especially from the community here in O’Brien Street – on my first visit as President to your town. I would like to thank Tom Moore of the Kanturk and District Community Council for giving me this great honour of opening your new riverside park – and also Eddie Walsh for his warm words of welcome to me today. I am also delighted to have this opportunity to pay tribute to the work of the Community Council – who have put in a tremendous effort over the last eight years to make this park a reality.
Kanturk, as we know, has a reputation for having the highest number of elderly people in the country per head of population. It would be impossible for me to say what lies behind that statistic – but I would venture to suggest that it may be a combination of a number of factors – like the warmth of the people – or the fact that you have not one – but two rivers running through the town – or that Kanturk people have discovered the secret of living to a ripe old age – that all you have to do is to go on living! Then again, maybe it’s the tendency for the people of Kanturk to build parks – because this is the second park in the town – and I know that you are already working on yet another riverside park. Whatever the reason for this longevity – I think that it must have a lot to do with the quality of life here in North Cork – and the determination of the people to get the best value out of everything – including life itself!
Kanturk is an important town in Cork and particularly in North Cork. The key to keeping a town successful – to making sure that it remains as one of the key towns in the region – is to be prepared to make change and improvements – to move with demand – so that it can continue to provide the service and facilities that have given it the reputation that it has today. Responding to community needs – and working to make it a better place to live – takes a considerable amount of dedication and commitment to the area. I want to pay a warm tribute to the Community Council for all that they have done in serving their community. This park is a true community effort – a partnership which has brought together interested members of the community and the support of those who have contributed – such as FÁS – who have been central to so many success stories in towns, villages and cities throughout the country.
When the Community Council paid the initial £3,000 in 1990 for what was then a piece of waste ground – it was the start of an exercise that involved tremendous effort and hard work. This park is a tribute to that effort – and to what can be achieved when people pool their talents and energies – and tap into available resources – to deliver services and amenities that will make their place a better place to live.
A spin-off benefit for communities embarking on projects like this is that they realise their own tremendous potential – that there is untapped resource within the community itself – and that it is the people themselves at local level who can best determine what they need and how they should proceed. The process gives you a vested interest in seeing it succeed – and the confidence to look to new horizons and new challenges – and to grasp the new opportunities that come with change.
In opening the new riverside park today – I am also taking the opportunity to give much deserved recognition to your work and achievement as a community – and to wish you continued success as you work on to make Kanturk – and your part of Kanturk – a place of which you can be proud – and a place where you will be quite happy to reach old age!
ENDS