REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE INDOOR ACTIVITY CENTRE, SUNSHINE HOUSE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE REDEVELOPED INDOOR ACTIVITY CENTRE, SUNSHINE HOUSE, BALBRIGGAN
Dia Dhibh a cháirde.
I am delighted to be here in Sunshine House, to open the magnificent redeveloped indoor activity centre and to celebrate this landmark day in its seven decades of service to children and to happy childhood memories. I am especially grateful to Thomas Joseph Fleming for the kind invitation which allows me to be part of this wonderful day.
Everyone of us here would wish that every child born and raised in Ireland would be a child who would never know hunger or fear or disadvantage or marginalisation. But we also know that the throw of life’s dice is unpredictable and happiness is often elusive for reasons far outside a child’s control. The Saint Vincent De Paul Society has always made the care of the marginalized, its business and nowhere is that vocation of loving care more evident than here in Sunshine House. Here children get a respite from life’s unfairness, its tough challenges and here they have simple fun in a beautiful environment. Here they are made heartily welcome for this place exists only for them. Now the fun will be even greater with this wonderful indoor activity centre designed to beat the unpredictable Irish weather.
When you think of the challenge involved in running a 16week programme which caters for 1,300 children each year, you get some idea of the extensive work that takes place here and the network of fundraising endeavour all around the country that sustains it. It is an outstanding achievement that Sunshine House and its facilities have been in continuous use now for seventy years and a remarkable testament to the culture of generous voluntarism and generosity which you meet wherever the name of the St Vincent De Paul Society is mentioned.
The 120 volunteers recruited by the Sunshine House Fund to help with the Summer Camp Programme are the kind of people all civic societies need if they are to be strong, resilient and confident. The form a bulwark against all the predators who want to rob our children of their potential, their peace of mind, who want to weaken them, to make them long term problems rather than strong-minded problem solvers. Here our children are helped to grow strong, to know they are loved and respected, to believe in their right to make the best contribution they can to their own lives and to their society’s well being. Sunshine House invests in our children and through them in Ireland itself.
Volunteers are practical patriots whose contribution to Irish life and society cannot be ever fully measured in “pounds, shillings and pence”, or even in euros and cent! This is work that is done out of no mandate except the commandment to love one another. It is done out of human decency and out of an intuitive understanding of the utter preciousness of childhood and of each day of childhood. My grandmother always used to tell us that what is learnt in childhood is engraved on stone. When my grandfather’s headstone was erected it had a small mistake in the date which I thought would be easily corrected by the engraver. He told us it would be better to erect a new headstone than correct the mistake. We don’t get such a chance with our children. We get one go around. We engrave well and like a diamond cutter we reveal the brilliance of the human person. Engrave badly and the marks of mistake are there for life. Sunshine House is all about engraving well and what is remarkable is that the organisers, the volunteers, the fundraisers want no reward and seek none beyond the happiness of the children who come here.
In the years since this house was founded in the 1930’s Ireland has been transformed. The widespread poverty, emigration and isolation which characterised our country have given way to a confident and successful Ireland, a significant voice in Europe and respected around the world. Yet the embrace of these good times is still not wide enough to reach all and the very fact, that 1,300 boys and girls avail of this facility every year is evidence that the journey towards the “true social order” our Constitution speaks of, is an unfinished journey and its completion is our work. We nudged ourselves quite a bit farther down that road last year when we hosted the Special Olympics World Summer Games and not surprisingly Sunshine House was in the middle of that- taking care of the delegation from Pakistan and sending them reluctantly home with lovely memories to last a lifetime.
A big thank you to Therese Singleton and her group of volunteers from Balbriggan, and to all the volunteers from around Ireland who made that event such a success. They opened up to a new landscape of ability, opportunity and understanding for our special brothers and sisters who have so much to teach us about courage and living life to the full.
Sunshine House opens up a landscape of opportunity for our young people. It brings into their lives a world of strangers who dare to care about them, about their well being, about their futures, about their contentment. We should be deeply grateful for that vocation of care so faithfully honoured here decade in and decade out and for all who make it happen. I would like in particular to acknowledge the assistance of Brian O’Reilly, President of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul; Ms. Carmel Byrne, Regional President of the Dublin Regional Council of the Society; and Columba Faulkner, National Secretary. The open-handedness of the ESB has shown corporate community spirit, indeed corporate civic responsibility at its very best. Here is a major national company showing its concern for the nation’s children and its commitment to their future well being. This is a day when we can take legitimate pride in those who put such an inspirational spirit of unselfishness into the bricks and mortar of Sunshine House. To all who work here, all who work for this place and all the children who enjoy Sunshine House- enjoy these new facilities and the memories they will create. Thank you for sharing this day with me.
Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.
Thank you.