REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION TO CELEBRATE FORTY YEARS OF THE NATIONAL YOUTH
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION TO CELEBRATE FORTY YEARS OF THE NATIONAL YOUTH FEDERATION AT ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
Cuireann sé an‑áthas orm agus ar Martín, fáilte ó chroí a chur romhaibh go léir go dtí Áras an Uachtaráin inniu.
You are all heartily welcome to this celebration of forty years of the National Youth Federation at Áras an Uachtaráin today.
Forty years ago the National Federation of Catholic Boys’ Clubs was founded. A few name changes later and a few other minor little things like permitting girls to join, we know it today as the National Youth Federation!
Today the young men and women of Ireland in their mid-teens have much to thank you for. You care about them. You want them individually to have the best lives possible, to have the fullest lives possible, to know their own giftedness, to feel confident, to feel included. You have forty years of experience of reaching out to young people, empowering them, talking their language, nudging them gently in the right direction, helping them to make good decisions, helping them to become good citizens. Your investment in our young people has been an investment in Ireland itself and our country is indebted to you as much as the individuals whose lives have been enhanced through your work.
You endeavour to respond to youth needs in a proactive manner, which reflect the changing social and personal agenda of young people today. You are to be commended for your efforts in relation to researching specific topics, highlighting new methods of working with disadvantaged young people, delivering specific partnership programmes and publishing resource material for staff and volunteers who work at the coalface with young people.
Over the years your work has become more complex, more extensive and more sophisticated. At it’s core of course are the Youths Clubs which are such an important part of teenage life, now the work extends to After School Supports, Community Youth Projects, research, education, information training and you have developed many partnerships, many allies along the way all of whom help you to deliver the best service ever to our young people and especially to those who might otherwise watch from the margins as others enjoy the mainstream. When a young person’s life is shut down through lack of self-confidence, under-achievement or under-education, it is an appalling waste and loss first to the individual himself or herself, but also to the community. Our greatest natural resource in Ireland is the talent of our people. Release that talent and we all flourish, waste it and we only fly on one wing. You help to make sure we fly on two wings. There are many competitors out there who want a piece of our teenagers lives. Tragically they want them for all the wrong reasons. As a society we have ridiculously unhealthy attitudes to alcohol and it should be no surprise that too many of our young people have inherited precisely those foolish and short-sighted attitudes. The drug culture builds on that stupidity with its own evil profiteering at the expense of young lives. So many teenage role models and icons offer them no decent value system, nothing that will protect them from harm and let them grow safely to maturity. You are very often the people who take on the fight against those destructive forces. It is a tough and relentless fight and every parent is grateful that you are there. Our teenagers are precious. Those years that bridge childhood and adulthood are crucial. With the gentlest of nudges they can be set on a trajectory that leads to a fulfilled and happy life. With the simplest of bad decisions they can go a different direction entirely. We want them to be strong, resilient human beings. People who can tell the difference between a good decision and bad decision, people who can show leadership and poise when peer pressure would push them the wrong way. We want them to feel encouraged and supported as they make their way across that bridge to adulthood. We do not want it to be a lonely journey. We want them to have good guides, skilled mentors and that is what your have provided for generations. May you continue to get fulfilment from this great mission and this important vocation. I hope that you will have a most enjoyable time here today. Many of you may not know each other but before the afternoon is out, I hope that you will have made a few new friends, you certainly share much in common.
On your behalf and my own I thank our MC for the afternoon, Paul Kennedy, the wonderfully talented Newbridge Youth Project Dancers and of course Caitriona Faul on harp, who played so beautifully on your arrival. Special thanks to John Gould our Civil Defence Officer and not forgetting all the staff here at Áras who have worked so hard to ensure that you all have an enjoyable afternoon.
Go raibh maith agaibh.