REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION AT ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE WORK
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION AT ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE WORK OF VOLUNTEERS IN OVERSEAS AID
Is cúis mhór áthais dom fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir chuig Áras an Uachtaráin inniu.
Firstly let me say how delighted I am to welcome each and every one of you to the Áras this afternoon. Today is a celebration and recognition of the work that you do and an opportunity for me to say on my own behalf and on behalf of all the people on this island how much we admire you and are grateful to you for what you do for people in less developed countries.
This year, the International Year of the Volunteer has provided us with an important opportunity to focus and reflect on the great achievements of a group of wonderfully selfless heroes - the countless volunteers worldwide. You are the doers among us, not content with acknowledging the plight of the sick and starving and dying, those who know only misery, who are often bereft of hope because there is no one to care. But thanks to your effort, your commitment to helping others, to relieving suffering and pain and anguish, to helping communities and perhaps more importantly teaching communities to help themselves, you offer hope where there once was little or none. Because you do what you do, because you do it so well, because your devotion to what you do is never caught up in any form of self-interest, nothing is about the ego. Because of all these things, our world is a better place, a more humanly-decent place.
And I know there is a cost, often a huge personal cost involved in doing your work – leaving home and family and friends and all the comforts both physical and emotional that they provide us with, setting out for unknown places in unfamiliar countries, sometimes unfriendly climates not knowing what is in store, what the challenges will be, embarking on a new journey with perhaps a sense of some foreboding and apprehension. And yet you do it and are happy to do it. It is perhaps the “why” you do it that interests me most – why you devote your lives to helping others – nobody makes you do it, why you leave the comfort of your family, home, job, friends, community – nobody makes you do it. And yet you do it. You are part of that great Irish tradition that has seen many, many of our sons and daughters, ambassadors for everything that is good and decent and generous about this country, bring real help and real hope to people who have suffered the ravages of war, famine, poverty and disease.
I was privileged to have met some of these remarkable people, both religious and lay, on a visit to East Africa a few short weeks ago. It was a humbling experience for us all to see the difference that these volunteers made to the lives of the communities they worked so hard for. I witnessed at first hand, projects that are life sustaining, life enhancing, comforting, hope bringing, capacity building and which only exist because Irish Aid workers are there to make them happen.
The commitment to community participation in projects encouraging the ethos of self-help has proven invaluable. Working in partnership with local communities has built up their capacity to cope, giving them reassurance, building on their confidence by developing their skills – focusing on developing the ability to respond to their own needs – not just a hand out but rather a hand up. I wish to pay tribute to the many umbrella bodies and organisations which are so active in the development sector, among them the Irish Missionary Union, Dochas, Comhlamh, and APSO.
Ireland’s unhappy history not only makes us more aware of the suffering caused by violence, poverty, hunger and oppression throughout the world, but also confers on us a particular responsibility to do what we can to alleviate those problems. It is you who have taken up this challenge. On behalf of the people of Ireland, I would like to say a heartfelt thank you. You have been the hands at work in which we all take deep pride. I congratulate and commend you for what you do, day in, day out and I hope that you will continue to do this vital work in the cause of others for many years to come.
I hope that you enjoy the afternoon. Many of you may know each other already but many more don’t, so I’ll ask you to reach out a hand to the person beside you and say hello and hopefully make a friend or two. This is a friendly house and I want you to feel welcome and at home here. We have an excellent visitors’ centre downstairs which I hope you will take time to explore later on.
Finally, I would like to say a special word of thanks to our MC this afternoon Eugene Downes and the wonderfully talented Lismore Choir who entertained us so beautifully in the Front Hall. I would also like to thank Lulu McGann and John Gould – our Civil Defence Officers on duty today.
I wish you and your families a peaceful and happy Christmas.
Is iontach an obair atá ar siúl agaibh go léir. Gura fada buan sibh agus go raibh maith agaibh.