EMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE WELCOMING CEREMONY FOR THE 30TH WORLD CONFERENCE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE WELCOMING CEREMONY FOR THE 30TH WORLD CONFERENCE OF THE WORLD ASSOCIATION OF GIRL GUIDES
Cuireann sé áthas ar mo chroí bheith anseo libh anocht. Ba mhaith liom fáilte fíor-Ghaelach a chur romhaibh go léir.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
I am truly honoured and delighted to be here with you this evening on this most important and joyful of occasions, the opening of the 30th World Conference of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. My thanks in particular to Elspeth Henderson, Chairperson of the World Conference Planning Team, for inviting me to join you here.
I would like, at the outset, on behalf of the Council of Irish Guiding Associations, and indeed the people of Ireland, to extend a very warm welcome to you all. We are delighted to see you here and we hope that your visit to us will be both productive and enjoyable.
It is a great honour for Ireland to host this Conference, and I warmly commend the hard work and dedication of all the Council Members in organising this event so well.
It gives me great pleasure to give a particular mention, and a warm welcome, to the new members of the World Association. To the new full members – Latvia, Maldives, Namibia, Poland, St. Lucia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Tunisia. And also to the new association members – Georgia, Guinea, Russia and the Ukraine. Céad míle fáilte romhaibh go léir.
We in Ireland are proud of the very strong commitment to voluntary and community work that is such an integral part of Irish culture and Irish life. Those values of caring and sharing, concern and commitment which are the hallmark of the voluntary movement, are very evident both in the countless number of Irish aid workers – lay and religious – that are to be found in every part of the world – and indeed, closer to home, in every village and town in Ireland.
So it is with a great sense of recognition and warmth that we welcome all of you here today – for those same values of dedication, decency and concern are the driving force behind the countless numbers of girl guide and scouting organisations throughout the world which you represent. It is thanks to the extraordinary commitment and hard work of volunteers, who give so freely of their time and energy, that there are now nearly 10 million members of the World Association in every part of the globe. It is a matter of great pride to us in Ireland that the mission which unites you, that of “Building World Citizenship”, was launched by my predecessor, as President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, in her capacity as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
We constantly hear about how small the world has become through global travel and global communications. Yet it is also a world that seems increasingly fractured and divided, blighted by acts of inhumanity, selfishness, intolerance and glaring disparity between the rich and poor, within and between nations. The ethos of the Guides movement acts as an important countermeasure to those tendencies, instilling in young people a heightened awareness and respect for different cultures and creeds. It teaches our children it is only when we learn to respect each other’s differences, that we can learn to look beyond them to what we have in common – so that we can together reach a new and enriched appreciation of the world. At the heart of your organisation is a joyful curiosity about each other and that is a powerful antidote to those who see differences of colour, creed, ethnicity, gender as occasions for contempt or hatred or exclusion.
The sense of partnership that has been built up between countries through the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, has led to a very practical approach to your mission of ‘Building World Citizenship’. For example, I know that instead of member countries bringing gifts to this Conference, you have been asked, where you can, to contribute to the Hurricane Mitch Fund. Having visited Honduras myself, I have seen the devastation and level of need which that country faces. I have also been humbled by the commitment and hope which many Honduran people – and especially the women – have demonstrated in helping to rebuild their country. Against a culture of poverty-etched fatalism, they are fighting a battle to create out of almost nothing a culture of opportunity and equality. It is so important to them that they have good friends in their struggle. I warmly commend the World Association on its efforts to extend the helping hand of friendship.
One of the most important aspects of the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, is the opportunity it provides for girls and young women to embark on a journey of self-development – of learning new skills, achieving goals, stretching themselves to their full potential. On that journey, they will have learned more about themselves and other people, learned the satisfaction of knowing that their contribution has made a real difference to the lives of people in their community and further afield. And you, the volunteers and leaders, can take great pride in knowing that your guidance and support has enabled countless numbers of girls in every part of the world to unpack their talents and giftedness, to become mature and responsible young adults.
It is appropriate that the theme of this Conference should be Dream, Dare, Do. We can all dream of a better world – a world in which all human beings are enabled to live lives of dignity and decency. You are the ones who help to make that dream a reality. You are the hands of our work. I wish you well in your deliberations at this Conference, as you charter a path for the World Association in the years ahead.
I would also like to mention the young people who have come from all over Ireland to entertain us this evening, and those who are attending the Camp on the Campus. I hope that you will thoroughly enjoy yourselves, and that memories of your participation in this prestigious event will remain with you for years to come.
I would like, finally, to wish the World Association a very successful and enjoyable Conference. The fact that you all have given of your time to be here, the fact that you face the coming Conference with energy and enthusiasm can only contribute to the Conference’s success. While there is, I know, a lot of business to attend to over the coming days, I am sure that the experience will also afford you the opportunity to make new friends and renew old friendships, and to grow closer in world citizenship.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh agus mo bhuíochas díbh go léir. Gach bua agus rath ar an obair amach romhaibh.