REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT AN EXHIBITION OF ADULT STUDENTS’ WORK FROM NALA
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT AN EXHIBITION OF ADULT STUDENTS’ WORK FROM THE NATIONAL ADULT LITERACY AGENCY KIPPURE HOUSE
Learners, Ladies and Gentleman,
Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo in bhur measc inniu. I go to a lot of events and travel around Ireland and the world but there is no doubt that the National Adult Literacy Agency’s events are always the best, the most memorable, the most heart-warming and the most fun for it is here through NALA that I meet the very best of our people and get to celebrate with them on a day of great success and great pride. So I'd like to thank John Stewart, Acting Director of NALA for the invitation to this lovely place and joyful occasion. Speaking of joyful occasions I should say congratulations and well done to Inez on Aoife’s birth. I hope that they are both enjoying her maternity leave.
It is the terrific achievements of 11 students in particular that brings us to this celebration this evening. They will receive their Certificates of Completion and though the certificate won’t say it, we know that in order to be here they have had to show courage, curiosity, determination, and diligence. I hope they are proud of what they have achieved for we are very proud of them.
I have been patron of the NALA for a decade now. I have seen time and again how it becomes a friend and teacher to our citizens with literacy needs, how it has supported and encouraged so many men and women to get back into education and to build up their skills and their confidence - as well as their opportunities. In ten years things have changed beyond all recognition: adult literacy learning opportunities have grown from 5,000 places in 1997 to 40,000 places today, with an increase in funding from €1 m. to €30 m. over the same period, a visible sign of the importance the Government attaches to ensuring the full participation of all our citizens in our society.
While today we celebrate the achievements of the learners above all else, still I want to say a huge thank you to all in NALA, and all involved in adult literacy. Whether this work is your career or whether you make it your business as a volunteer, your investment in people makes our country strong by making individuals strong. The service you provide would not have grown and indeed would not exist if we did not have in Ireland so many very courageous men and women who are prepared to become learners and who do it so well. They are NALA’s best ambassadors and they would be the first to say that they got help not just from NALA but from family and friends too. To all those who have encouraged and supported our learners a big thank you.
To start this course took courage. To finish it took commitment. These things have earned our learners huge respect and admiration. They have taken their lives and their futures into their own hands, made changes, started something new and something good. You know more than anyone what it is like to live in a world of written words and forms and books and papers and to feel uncomfortable and not fully included. Because you know, and because you know the sheer joy and liberation that comes from dealing with literacy difficulties you have opened your stories up to others through the television documentary. A lot of people who are living their lives in the kind of half-light where literacy problems can often place people will be encouraged by your example to follow your example. You are their bridge to a better future just as NALA and your own efforts are a bridge to a better future for each one of you.
I am often asked who are the most impressive people I have met in ten years and I suppose I am expected to name familiar world leaders or celebrities but each time I am asked I say the same thing: that the people who impressed me the most and whose stories I will carry to my grave are the people I have met through NALA. Great people, who have begun to believe in their own greatness, their own genius through becoming learners again in adulthood. So to eleven great people with talents and gifts that are revealing themselves fully, possibly for the first time, congratulations on your academic success and every good wish for the future. Hopefully you will stay in lifelong learning and throughout the years ahead you will feel a new confidence, a new energy and a new faith in yourself and your role in our society.
From all of us gathered to honour you, well done and enjoy this hard-earned night of celebration.