REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF COMPUTERS IN SCHOOLS PROJECT
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF COMPUTERS IN SCHOOLS PROJECT AND BALLYMUN / SAN JOSE CULTURAL EXCHANGE
Lord Mayor and distinguished guests, I would like to say how delighted I am to be taking part in this unique event in Irish education. I would like also to say hello and welcome to the Mayor of San Jose – Susan Hammer – who is joining us live in making this important piece of history for the community of Ballymun – and for the ‘virtual community’ of the school children of Ballymun/San Jose. I think it is particularly appropriate that the Ballymun schools should be celebrating this great occasion with schools in San Jose because it is very much a celebration of the new technologies for which Silicon Valley is renowned the world over. It is perhaps more significant when you consider that Ireland is the second largest exporter of computer software in the world – second only to the united States. So both of us are firmly wedded to new technology.
Already within the past year I have been here for the Ballymun Initiative for Third Level Education – and the Aisling Project. The Computers in School project at Ballymun is yet another initiative aimed at assisting the young people of this area in broadening their horizons - and increasing their access to education. The possibilities that it opens up are enormous. We’ve already heard of virtual shopping – we have the virtual community up and running today – and who knows, we may soon look forward to virtual exams!
Through participation in the project, schools will have the means to improve their educational standards and in the process will be in a position to give vital exposure and experience to those young people who will be eventually going out into the jobs market with a solid grounding in the techniques and processes that using Information Technology involves. The great number of foreign investors that have been such a contributory factor in our current economic good fortune, have been attracted in part by the high number of young educated people that we have available to take up employment with ease.
But this project is about education in the first instance – and applying IT to the task of educating. The emerging technologies give us the opportunity to look again at how we ‘deliver’ education – and at how more and more people can have the access which they need and want. In the past, Irish educators have shown their commitment to wider and wider access to education. We owe a great deal to our public representatives and officials who have made second and third level education more widely available, particularly over the last three decades. The willingness to adapt and cater for the different needs of communities is reflected in the involvement of Dublin City University – and I want to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to Dr. Danny O’Hare, President of Dublin City University for his commitment to the community here in Ballymun.
I know that this project has involved a lot of work and commitment – and I would like to congratulate the Ballymun Partnership – funded by the EU Urban Initiative through Regeneration of Urban North Dublin Ltd. - in drawing the various strands together to make this the success that it is. In particular, I would like to recognise the tremendous help given by the Department of Education and Science who have provided funding from the “Schools IT 2000” project through the National Centre for Technology in Education, and Telecom Eireann who have given their support through the “Information Age Schools” project.
The link-up with schools in San Jose, California, is an exciting addition to this project and is a practical demonstration of how productive contacts can be made and maintained using the latest communications technology. I know that the Ballymun Partnership sent out some scouts to San Jose – and that they were overwhelmed with the level of interest in and enthusiasm for this new ‘virtual community’. I would like to pay tribute to The Lord Mayor’s office in Dublin – and the San Jose City Council – both of whom have assisted and supported the setting up of links between the schools in Ballymun and San Jose. I would also like to commend the assistance given by the San Jose Sister City Committee who facilitated contacts with schools. Of course, this project would not have been possible without the support of the schools themselves, and I would like to thank the many schools who have enthusiastically participated.
I know that there have been contacts between the twinned cities of Dublin and San Jose since 1986 – and in July of this year I received a number of representatives of San Jose who were visiting Dublin as part of the twinning arrangement. In fact, during that visit, I believe that a grove of California Redwood Trees were planted here in Ballymun as a symbol of the growing relationship between the two cities.
With the link-up of schools in both cities you have continued to grow that relationship and to broaden the cultural exposure and experiences of thousands of young people who can continue to build on that experience throughout their lives. I know that further developments are being planned – with 40 Irish trainees from Ballymun and Belfast being placed in companies in Silicon Valley as part of the International Fund for Ireland/Peace and Reconciliation Project – and that this will be developed as the links continue to grow.
You have a bridge between two cities and two countries. It is a model that can be taken up be more communities and towns as the availability and access to communications – through the Internet and video-conferencing - become more and more available. As we approach a new millennium - with new opportunities and new challenges – you are well placed not just to keep up with developments but to set trends that can be emulated throughout the world – where it is increasingly important for people to get to know other cultures – to understand that people do not have to be all the same – and that it is the diversity in the world that makes it a beautiful place to live.