REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL NEEDS - ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL NEEDS - ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN WEDNESDAY, 6TH FEBRUARY, 2002
Is cúis mhór áthais orm fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir chuig Áras an Uachtaráin.
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all to Áras an Uachtaráin and say a heartfelt céad míle fáilte. I hope you will relax and enjoy your visit to this beautiful house which, as President, I have the privilege of calling home. Many of you don’t know each other and so I will ask you to extend the hand of friendship to whoever is beside you and say hello, exchange a story or two and that hopefully by the end of the afternoon, you will have made many new and lasting friendships and will remember with fondness your visit to this house. It is a place steeped in history and tradition and has served many purposes in its 250 years in existence. We have a very interesting visitors’ centre and I hope you will take the time later to explore its many treasures and stories.
As some of you will already know I have a particular and personal interest in the challenges faced by persons with special needs. Since becoming President over four years ago now, I have visited many of the wonderfully caring organisations -organisations which I know you will agree, provide much valued and very essential support for you and your families. Without exception on each and every one of these visits, I have been struck by the dedication, commitment and truly caring approach that was so evident and so selflessly given. We in Ireland are known as a caring people, generous of our time and of ourselves, and the manner in which support organisations, many of whom are represented today, give of themselves quietly and often without recognition bears testimony to that fact. Our carers have to dig deep, day in and day out for the energy and focus they need to carry out their precious vocation just as our brothers and sisters with special needs have to dig deeper than any of us can imagine, to find the spirit of joy and hope that makes life worthwhile even with its difficulties.
Society’s attitude to people with special needs has slowly but surely shifted kilter at last. Over the last two decades many welcome changes have come about as a fresh new momentum gathered around a broad recognition of the civic and human rights of every human being bar none. A new consciousness emerged that those with special needs had the God-given right to participate fully in the social, economic, political and cultural activities of their communities. We began to see that when we excluded people we deprived them of the chance to blossom and we deprived ourselves of their fully revealed genius, imagination and talent. We were all losers, the individual, the family, the community, the country, just as we are all winners when that once wasted and untapped potential is given its chance to shine.
It is reassuring therefore to see how much progress has been made in the care and treatment of people with special needs over recent years. The emphasis has shifted from a culture of complete passive dependence to one of effectively supported independence. The emerging culture of freedom is deeply challenging. It is labour intensive. The work is difficult and relentless but its rewards come in a million different milestones reached, in a word, a smile, a task completed with pride, a day out that brings happy memories.
What you have all helped Irish society to understand is that men and women, boys and girls with special needs must have the opportunity to live life as fully as possible, to know their world, to help make that world tick. I am reminded of the beautiful poignant words of T.S. Eliot about wasted opportunity when he said:
‘Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden’.
Your work makes sure the door into the rose garden is open and that we do enter. May you continue to have the vitality and the faith for the journey you are taking for all of us and may this day bring its own share of happy shared memories to sustain us on the road ahead.
I would like to thank our marvellous entertainers who have helped make today a success - the very talented string quartet ‘The Kylemore College Ensemble’. My thanks also to John Gould and Lulu McGann, the Civil Defence Officers on duty for their expert assistance, and of course my own staff here at Áras who work hard to make occasions such as this enjoyable for everyone.
Martin and I are looking forward to having an opportunity of chatting with you in a few moments. We hope that you will enjoy the afternoon.
Go raibh maith agaibh.