REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR YOUTH GROUPS FROM THROUGHOUT IRELAND
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR YOUTH GROUPS FROM THROUGHOUT IRELAND ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
Dia dhíbh a chairde. Conas a tá sibh go léir?
Hello everyone. You are all very welcome to Áras an Uachtaráin this afternoon – Martin and I very much hope that you will relax and enjoy your visit, take time to get the know this House which is steeped in history and in treasures. Most of all we hope that you will meet and get to know some new people, make some new friends and take home with you some fond and lasting memories of your visit here.
What is special about the people in this room, what is so heartening about the people in this room is that you are young people and maybe a few not so young people, who don’t sit around waiting to be entertained - you don’t hang around passively waiting for others to bring life to your doorstep, you are not spectators at life, you are participants, you make things happen, you make your own choices. And every time you do, you make yourselves stronger, more resilient, more skilled and importantly more fulfilled.
These are the qualities that will stand to each one of you right throughout your lives, no matter what life has in store for you. Involvement in sport or a youth club or a community endeavour of any sort, gives you a chance to test yourself, to find out what you are made of. It gives you a chance to find out things about yourself you would never have known otherwise.
You discover that you are good at sport or that you make a good friend, a good organiser, a peacemaker, a joker who can lift other people’s hearts. You learn about other people, how to deal with a variety of personalities and temperaments, how to make friends, how to keep friends, how not to keep friends, how to make amends when things go wrong, how to work as a team, how to respect the talents other people have and to see how many different talents are needed to keep the world going. You will meet people who are better than you are at certain things and that is fine - celebrate their gifts, respect them, for you too have your very unique talents and gifts and knowing that they are respected rather than envied will bring a lot of peace of mind and encouragement.
You are lucky to be living on this island of Ireland which has prospered so well in recent years and is renowned across the world for that success, a self-confident country, widely respected because its people are seen not only as hard-working and talented but also as fun loving and kind. But Ireland still has unfinished business. It needs caring people to keep working towards a peaceful and equal society where every child has a chance to shine. Strong individuals make strong communities and strong communities make a strong country. Strong individuals are people like you who develop and use their talents generously and well, in the service of others. Judging by the huge range of interests you represent, Ireland is set to be led by a very talented and dynamic bunch of future citizens whose hearts are in the right place.
All of us owe a big thank you to the army of volunteers, both here with us today and around the country, who devote so much of their time and energy and talent to youth organisations. You deserve great credit for the investment you make in our society, in our future, through the mobilisation and motivation of our young people. Many others only get to know their talents and potential through your work and without your contribution life would be drab to the extreme.
Your work literally has the capacity to influence and change lives especially in the affirmation and support of those young people whose talents often get overlooked or neglected because of major problems - poverty, disability, illness, bereavement, bullying, difficult family circumstances of all sorts. Too many of our young people have to face all sorts of crises, but when they do, you can make the difference between muddling through badly and surviving with strength and hope. For all that you do to help others, whether as youth group members or volunteers devoted to youth organisations, we thank you and hope that you will continue to do what you do with energy and commitment and laughter for many years to come.
To entertain us this afternoon we have the very talented Graffiti Classic and our MC Paul Kennedy. I would like to thank them as I would also like to thank the Civil Defence personnel on duty and of course the crew at Áras who have worked hard to make today the enjoyable occasion we all very much hope you will find it to be.
Go raibh maith agaibh.