REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE BARNARDOS TENTH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS DVBLINIA, CHRISTCHURCH
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE BARNARDOS TENTH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS DVBLINIA, CHRISTCHURCH THURSDAY, 13TH MAY 1999
Tá lúcháir orm bheith anseo libh inniu agus muid ag céiliúradh deich bliain ag dul chun chinn. Tá ard-mheas agam le fada an lá ar an obair atá ar siúl agaibh i Barnardos.
I am delighted to join you here today for the tenth anniversary celebrations of Barnardos as an independent Irish organisation. I would like to especially thank your Chairman, Leslie Andrews, for inviting me here today.
Ireland has undergone significant changes in those past ten years. We have become more economically and culturally confident as a nation, more comfortable with ourselves and with our capacity to compete and succeed in any sphere. But there is one challenge that still remains, and which must be the focus of our energies in the years ahead: that is, the spreading of the benefits of that prosperity as widely as possible. Not just out of compassion or decency but because it is - the right thing to do, and the surest guarantee of future success.
The greatest danger that faces us is complacency. We can rightly take pride in all we have achieved but must equally recognise that poverty and disadvantage are still the tragic norm for many of our people. So much talent has been wasted in the past through lack of opportunity. So much more energy and commitment could be unlocked if all of our people were given the education, encouragement and self-confidence to reach their full potential. That potential is a rich resource when put at the service of the individual and the community. Harvesting that resource has been a very imperfect, hit and miss science. Too many lives have been sacrificed to the capriciousness of unequal opportunities. Our constitution is pledged to true equality of opportunity and so the promotion of a culture in which that has real meaning for all is our goal. Real meaning and real effect!
This is especially important for our young people. They say that what is engraved in childhood is engraved on stone. If we engrave well in those childhood years, we are rewarded by the development of healthy, happy adults. If we fail to engrave on their hearts the message that they are unique and valuable individuals, if we fail to give them the support and care they need in those critical early years, we must share the responsibility for that failure.
There are those who see many problems and lament them. There are others who see problems and set out to solve them. They are the people who take responsibility, who rebuild hope and energy, who reshape the world around them for the better.
Barnardos is full of those types of people. Individuals who look at children who have been abused and neglected, affected by drugs or alcohol misuse, poverty or violence, and see not problems but people. They look beyond the veneer of hostility or mistrust and see the person beneath who has been hurt and confused and is in need of help.
We owe all of you in Barnardos who have given so generously of your time and energy to help those children, our heartfelt thanks. I would like to pay tribute to Leslie Andrews, Owen Keenan and all of you who have worked so hard for Barnardos down through the years.
Your work is important. It does make a difference. I wish you every success in that work in the years ahead.
Mo bhuíochas libh arís. Guím gach rath agus séan ar bhur gcuid oibre san am ata le teacht.