Remarks by President McAleese at a Garden Party to Highlight the GAA Social Initiative Programme
Áras an Uachtaráin, Dublin, Thursday, 30th May, 2013
Dia dhíbh a chairde, Martin and I are delighted to extend a very warm céad míle fáilte to each one of you. Thank you all for making the journey from every part of Ireland to join us here this afternoon for this garden party to celebrate the wonderful work that is being undertaken by the GAA’s Social Initiative.
I know it’s the dream of every GAA fan passionate about their county to be Dublin-bound in July - even better in September. Even though this isn’t Croke Park on match day, I hope that the trip to the Áras is almost as much fun for you! It’s wonderful to meet you and to see the Social Initiative in action.
This garden party celebrates an idea that has become a reality - that idea was about getting to grips with the unnecessary isolation of older men in our communities. We held a Forum here at the Aras a few years ago and, there, senior men from every county explained their lives, their hopes and their need for new networks of friendship and of social life. We listened very carefully to what the forum participants had to say and from that was born the idea of a social initiative that would involve the most important, influential and far-reaching community organisation on this island, the GAA. We did not have to ask the GAA twice and they backed it from the very start with energy, imagination and commitment.
I warmly thank President Christy Cooney and his predecessor Nicky for their enthusiastic support. I welcome and thank the fantastic Social Initiative team at GAA headquarters, led by Seán Kilbride and Joan Cooney who are driving forward this project with great momentum. The recently-appointed provincial coordinators who are here with us today - Aileen Tohill, John Kelly, Mattie Kilroy and JJ Walsh - deserve our thanks and good wishes and a big thank you to the pioneering GAA clubs who volunteered for the pilot phase of this project.
The pilot projects proved the need and proved the generosity was there to meet the need. But the people who are making this project really buzz with life are the participants who turn up to the events and who take part. I am grateful to each one of you for giving it a go and I hope that you are building up a great set of happy memories, friendships and things to look forward to. The great strength of the Social Initiative is the wide variety of activities carried out by each of the clubs involved - no two are the same - from indoor bowling to singing, talent competitions to theatre trips, regular social evenings and, of course, the hugely successful trips to Croke Park where Social Initiative groups are treated like the VIPs that you are. In that respect, you have enjoyed the same GAA fáilte that was accorded to another recent VIP visitor to Croke Park - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. On that day, the GAA did us proud yet again and Christy Cooney’s historic and dignified words of welcome for the Queen and Prince Philip were especially memorable.
I’m delighted to learn that in so many clubs, Social Initiative events have become a regular and much-anticipated part of the club calendar. Here today we also have some clubs who are in the early phases of getting involved so I hope what you see and hear will encourage you to jump right in and bring the Social Initiative to life in your club and your community.
So we have a lot to celebrate - have a wonderful day and take the opportunity to talk to the strangers around you and tell them what you are up to. I’d like to say a special word of thanks to the team at the Áras who have been hard at work preparing for you today. I’d also like to thank our partners in the Office of Public Works, the Gardaí, our first aiders from the Civil Defence and Noel and Emmalene, our work experience friends from St John of Gods who have been helping us out. We are very lucky to have a wonderful programme of music by some incredibly talented performers to keep us entertained throughout the afternoon. My warmest thanks to our MC Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh, and to our soprano Nicola Mulligan accompanied by Dearbhla Collins on the piano, our traditional Irish musicians Páidí Breathnach, Breandán Ó hÍarnáin, Prionsias Ó hÍarnáin, the Garda Band and the legendary Paddy Cole.
I hope each of you enjoys your time with us today and in the spirit of the Social Initiative, that you not only enjoy the company of those you came with but also the other guests who you are meeting here for the first time today. Enjoy the friendships and the music and the stories and I hope you each return home with a store of memories to tell at your next Social Initiative gathering!
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.