REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT LIMERICK YOUTH RESOURCE CENTRE 5 LOWER GLENTWORTH STREET
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT LIMERICK YOUTH RESOURCE CENTRE 5 LOWER GLENTWORTH STREET, LIMERICK
Tá mé thar a bheith sásta bheith anseo libh inniú. Go raibh míle maith agaibh as an chuireadh a thug sibh dom teacht anseo agus as fáilte fíorghealach a chur romham.
Firstly, let me say how happy I am to be visiting you today, and to have the opportunity to see at first hand a truly unique Centre for young people. Many other communities are scratching their heads wondering how best to meet the needs of Ireland’s young men and women but you have created here what is without doubt a model that others can and will learn from. Here our young people can grow in skill and confidence in an environment that puts them at the centre and is dedicated to helping them make the very best of their lives. There is nothing sadder than to meet an adult whose talents and life have been wasted in under-achievement - and there are many of them, too many of them in our society still - men and women who never got the chance to find out how talented they were, who never got the chance or never took the chance to grow in the self-belief that comes from a good education and training. Their lives have been so often only half-lived because of lack of opportunity and not because of lack of ability. This Centre is about making sure that every human being has access to opportunity for as each person flourishes and grows strong, their families, communities and their country also grows strong. Your investment in the individual is also an investment in our nation.
This Centre exists because of a deep-rooted faith in the genius and ability of our young people and a determination that all of that genius will be harnessed and put to good use. Sr. Joan Bowles, God rest her was the inspiration behind it. She was admired by all who knew her as one of the most outstanding and pioneering youth workers in Ireland who believed that each individual should be uniquely valued, treated with love, accorded dignity and provided with the opportunity to blossom to his or her full potential. I know that you have all lived through a year of change and difficult challenges following Sr. Joan’s tragic and untimely death, but the opening of this Centre today is a wonderful tribute to her and a powerful vindication of her faith in you. She would surely be proud of the work which has culminated in this day of celebration and of such an effective collaboration between the voluntary and statutory agencies. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis.
There is an Irish saying; ‘Mol an óige agus tiochaidh sí’ – praise the youth and they will blossom. Life brings its own hardships and hurdles, its good and bad days to every human being young and old. Sometimes it can seem like a lonely journey but this place exists to contradict that - to tell you that the volunteers who make this place tick want to accompany you through these precious years, to give you support, guidance, encouragement and help so that every day you will grow in resilience and in self-knowledge and in faith in your own future. Without volunteers there would be no Centre and it is worth reminding ourselves that they do this work for no reward not even for thanks - they do it because they dare to care that our young people will have the best so that they can become the best. This state of the art building is as good as it gets and yet another landmark in the twenty year history of Limerick Youth Service which has changed the course of many a young life for the better.
You are lucky that Limerick Youth Service has such a terrific culture of volunteerism and I hope that many of the young people who benefit from the Centre will return the compliment by returning years from now as volunteers.
I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the Director of Limerick Youth Service, Ms Catherine Kelly, for inviting me here today. I wish you all every success in the future. It only remains for me to declare your new Resource Centre officially open.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.