REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY MCALEESE AT THE SENIOR CITIZENS/SECONDARY SCHOOLS ENCOUNTER
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY MCALEESE AT THE SENIOR CITIZENS/SECONDARY SCHOOLS ENCOUNTER TUESDAY, 18 MAY 1999
I wish to extend a very warm welcome to you all to Áras an Uachtaráin. I know that many of you have travelled long distances to come here today. I hope that you will enjoy the afternoon and leave with fond memories of the day you visited the Áras.
I thank you for sending me the collages you prepared. The standard and quality are excellent and obviously took a lot of time and effort to prepare. You truly captured the theme of this senior citizen/secondary schools encounter “Handing Over-Building Bridges into the new Millennium”.
I will be inviting you later on to take a closer look at this great House – a place that has seen so much change as the events of this islands history have ebbed and flowed over the last several centuries. If the weather and time permits, I would also like to invite you to stroll in the very interesting and historic grounds.
The art and architecture of this house – the place which I now call home – reflect the many changes in generation and use with which it is associated – the British history - the Irish history – and our shared British/Irish history. It has been very carefully preserved and maintained – and it is still used not just as a home – but also as a place where we conduct State business – surrounded by the many influences that have made us the people we are today. It bridges the generations and the traditions and - in a very real sense – it is a fitting place for us to meet and extend that concept to this and future generations.
Most of you will already know that I see it as part of my mission as President to promote links and contacts between individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds – to encourage the building of bridges of understanding and respect between different groups in our society. The obvious focus is on the two main traditions – between the Unionists and the Nationalists – and between Catholic and Protestant. But we should also remember that there are many other groups who consider themselves different, feel excluded and marginalised – groups who live in some of our poorer communities – our disabled brothers and sisters - groups who suffer exclusion because of geographic location – groups who find themselves strangers in a strange land. During my Presidency I want to focus on all these groups – to establish links with and between them – and between them and their opposites.
By building these links and bridges we learn much from each other and about each other and enrich ourselves in the process. The more we engage with each other - the more we cross the boundaries and divisions between us - the more we use our full God-given resources and energies productively - the more we will be surprised at what we are able to accomplish when we get to know each other – and work together – without the energy-sapping fear that keeps us apart.
I thought it appropriate in this the International year of older persons to focus this years Schools Encounter on the theme of forging links between older and younger people. We are on the eve of a new Millennium and we look forward with excitement to the many benefits it holds in store for us, but we should also look back on days gone by and what we have learned through the experiences of previous generations.
We are all familiar with the Irish expression “Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí” which recognises that youth needs encouragement in order to flourish. We often refer to Ireland’s greatest asset being its youth. We have given our youth opportunity and they have done us proud, but we should not forget that it was the older generations that made the sacrifices in order to educate their children which enabled them to seize the opportunities that modern Ireland provides.
We also should remember that although many of our senior-citizens did not have the same formal educational opportunities that are so readily available to our young people today, they have a wealth of knowledge and experience that will be of so much benefit to our youth in life if they can only access that knowledge. I hope that many of our young visitors here today will by now have experienced the satisfaction and enjoyment that can be derived from learning about what life was like before “play stations”, “Spice Girls” and indeed television.
I look forward to hearing of your individual experiences as you tell of how you built your bridge, forged your link in preparation for today. I hope that you will build more bridges, forge new links and make many strong and lasting friendships today.
For your added pleasure this afternoon, we have a number of entertainers performing, which should prove to be a very enjoyable experience for us all. When the performances are over I will go to each table to meet you. You will then be invited into the House for a tour of the rooms and the Visitor Centre. I hope you enjoy the remainder of the afternoon and I look forward to meeting you all later.