REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS OF EDUCATE TOGETHER
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS OF EDUCATE TOGETHER MORRISON HOTEL, DUBLIN 1
Dia dhíbh a chairde. Tá an áthas orm bheith i bhur measc ar on ocáid seo. Míle bhuíochas díbh as an gcuireadh agus an fáilte a thug sibh dom.
A big happy 30th birthday to the Dalkey School Project National School. I was delighted to get the invitation from CEO Paul Rowe, though for a moment I was shocked to realise that thirty years had passed so quickly. The Project was of course the seedbed of the Educate Together movement and while this birthday of itself would make for a very proud day for the founders of the school, its students, parents, the teaching staff and the Educate Together movement, it comes at a moment in Ireland’s educational history when Educate Together has stepped up to the plate nationally and shifted what was a pioneering movement right into the mainstream.
Our constitution acknowledges parents as the primary educators of their children and we know that the parents of this country take that role very seriously. The group of parents that came together 30 years ago with a desire for a primary school with a multi-denominational ethos had many obstacles to overcome on their way to bringing this school and this movement to life. They then had to sustain and develop it and establish its credentials.
These determined founders sought to develop schools where all children of all religions and none would be welcomed and equally respected in schools which would be multi-denominational, coeducational, child-centred and democratically run.
The success of the Dalkey School Project can be gauged from the fact that this month alone twelve new Educate Together schools opened, bringing to 56 the number of Educate Together schools operating today. So much rested on the success of the Dalkey school. It was to be the pilot, the showcase. It had to be exceptional and it was and it still is. What is more, it presaged the new multi-cultural Ireland that was on the way. Our schools have been so often the first point of contact between our new immigrant citizens and the wider Irish society. They have adapted rapidly and remarkably well, coping effectively and compassionately with the huge range of human, psychological, cultural and educational issues these profound changes have wrought. They have been the face of the welcome, the hands of support and they have been and are the safe and sure road our children travel to their own genius and our society’s civic strength.
We trust our primary schools with the most precious thing we have - our children and their futures. It is an awesome giving, and an awesome undertaking. The 1916 Proclamation set us an agenda to create a republic in which the children of the nation would be cherished equally - what a word that is - cherished, not the more clinical or legalistic word “treated” equally but cherished - a word that digs deep into love, respect, compassion, care, dignity, nurture. It is a word designed to build a culture where the uniqueness of each is valued and where we are taught from our earliest moments to be proud of difference, to be comfortable around it, to see it as a source of creative energy and to respond to it with a spontaneous respect. We have paid a dreadful price on this island for a culture of fear of difference and our legacy to all our children has to be an end of fear - a beginning of friendship.
The founders have played a noble role in the reshaping our future and it is wonderful to be here to commend them today. Sadly Bill Hyland has passed away but thankfully Áine is still with us as are the other founders, Michael and Pat Johnston and Desmond Green. Tus maith is leath na hoibre - a good start is half the work - so here’s a thank you for that last thirty years and good wishes for the next thirty when your work will surely flourish and with it our country.
I am delighted to be with you all today to celebrate the success of the Educate Together movement and I wish you well in dealing with whatever challenges that arise over the next 30 years.
Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.