LAUNCH OF THE KILMORE WEST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT BY PRESIDENT McALEESE
LAUNCH OF THE KILMORE WEST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ST LUKES PARISH CENTRE, KILMORE WEST, DUBLIN
Cuireann sé áthas ar mo chroí bheith anseo libh inniu agus tá mé buíoch díbh go léir as fáilte fíorchaoin a chur sibh romham.
It gives me great pleasure to join you here today for the launch of the Kilmore West Community Development Project. I would like to thank the Project Director, Martin Hamilton, for inviting me here, and all of you for the very warm welcome.
At the heart of this project is a recognition of the importance of community and of the fact that it takes more than bricks and mortar to build a community. It takes a lot of hard work and commitment, enthusiasm and perseverance, to turn a group of houses into a real community, a group of people into neighbours. But it is worth persisting with that effort, because what can be achieved by working together in partnership, will always be greater than the sum of individual parts. It proves the truth of that lovely old Irish saying: ‘Ní neart go cur le chéíle’ – our strength is in working together.
We are privileged to live in a time of unprecedented prosperity. Never before have we been so confident as a nation, never before have we had such reason for celebration. We have seen the tide of emigration turn, the spectre of unemployment fade, the global mainstreaming of Irish culture, the recognition of Ireland as a great European Union success story and the emergence of peace in Northern Ireland.
But there is another Ireland within our shores. It is a world where the reality of daily life is poverty, where the little energy each day brings is spent on basic survival. It is a place where self-confidence has been drained away by discrimination, rejection and lack of opportunity. Some of its inhabitants are recent arrivals in Ireland; others have been born into that world, or forced there by any one of a litany of life’s harsh circumstances. They look on from the margins of our booming economy, not as participants but as spectators on the sideline, unable to join in, knowing that this confident Ireland which is so celebrated and admired internationally is not their Ireland, their world. Not yet, or not ever, they may well ask.
That is why we need projects like this, which recognise the reality of that other Ireland, because they are run by local people and for local people. Projects such as this provide real hope for the future because you prove, day in, day out, that even in this age of growing materialism and scepticism, people do care, and keep on caring. They care about what happens in their communities and to their communities; they see the problems around them and instead of saying ‘someone should do something about that’, they go out and do it themselves. They sow the seeds from which a better future can grow. They show how one individual can galvanise and restore hope to an entire community. They provide a respected and confident voice which keeps challenging us as a people to work for full social inclusion - not because it is a nice thing, but because it is essential. Because without it we waste so much time and talent, we do not realise our full potential as individuals or as communities.
This room is full of people who are determined to bring about change, people who know that they can make a difference, proving that life brings hope and those who live life well can change history. Many of you have been active for a number of years in various voluntary organisations within this area and in securing support from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs for this project. Now that it is finally up and running, you will have a focal point to support those individual groups and enable them to support each other through greater networking and the exchange of advice, ideas and experience. I warmly commend the Management Committee, and all of the volunteers, for your work to date. It is my great pleasure to formally launch the Kilmore West Community Development Project. I wish you every success in all your future work.
Is iontach an obair atá ar siúl agaibh agus guím rath agus séan oraibh go léir san am atá le teacht. Go raibh maith agaibh.