REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF MEITHEAL’S STRATEGIC PLAN AND CERTIFICATE AWARD
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF MEITHEAL’S STRATEGIC PLAN AND CERTIFICATE AWARD CEREMONY PARNELL SQUARE
Cuireann sé áthas ar mo chroí bheith anseo libh anocht agus tá mé buíoch díbh go léir as fáilte fíorchaoin a chur sibh romham.
It gives me great pleasure to join you here this evening for the launch of Meitheal’s Strategic Plan and to celebrate with you the achievement of all those who will be awarded certificates at this evening’s presentation.
The word ‘Meitheal’ is an intriguing one and well chosen, because in one word it captures the heart and soul of this organisation. As you unpack the word you find the human person rooted in community, belonging to a society where neighbour helps neighbour, where the value of partnership and collective effort is profoundly understood as the vehicle which allows us to transcend the limitations of individual effort and create opportunities much greater than the sum of the individual parts. Those of us who grew up on farms or whose holidays were spent on grandparents' farms know the story, the spontaneity, the fun and the friendship of meitheal. We also know how necessary it was for survival, how it underlined the membership of a common family and brought home to us again and again how much we need each other as the crops were harvested in a frenzy of work, each neighbour helping to bring in the harvest of the other. In meitheal is found the truth of that lovely old Irish saying ‘Ní neart go cur le chéile’ – our strength is in working together.
We are privileged to live in a time of unprecedented prosperity. Never before have we been so confident as a nation, never before have we had such reason for celebration. We have seen the tide of emigration turn, the spectre of unemployment fade, the global mainstreaming of Irish culture, the recognition of Ireland as a great European Union success story and the emergence of peace in Northern Ireland.
But there is another Ireland within our shores. It is a world where the reality of daily life is poverty, where the little energy each day brings is spent on basic survival. It is a place where self-confidence has been drained away by discrimination, rejection and lack of opportunity. Some of its inhabitants are recent arrivals in Ireland, fleeing persecution or poverty in their home countries; others have been born into that world, or forced there by any one of a litany of life’s harsh circumstances. They look on from the margins of our booming economy, not as participants but as spectators on the sideline, unable to join in, knowing that this confident Ireland which is so celebrated and admired internationally is not their Ireland, their world. Not yet or not ever they may well ask.
How will we respond to that other Ireland? How will this generation use the resources that our prosperity has generated? Will we use them well and generously to create a society that is all centre, and no margins? Will future generations applaud our commitment to social justice, the determined way in which we tackled poverty and inequality? Or will they look back with regret on the opportunities squandered through cynicism, apathy and uncaring selfishness?
Organisations such as Meitheal, and the many community and voluntary groups it assists, provide real hope for the future. Because you prove, day in, day out, that even in this age of growing materialism and scepticism, people do care, and keep on caring. They care about what happens in their communities and to their communities; they see the problems around them and instead of saying ‘someone should do something about that’, they go out and do it themselves. They sow the seeds from which a better future can grow. They show how one individual can galvanise and restore hope to an entire community. They provide a respected and confident voice which keeps challenging us as a people to work for full social inclusion not because it is a nice thing but because it is essential, because without it we waste so much time and talent, we do not realise our full potential as individuals or as communities.
This room is full of people who are determined to bring about change, people who know that they can make a difference. All of you who will be presented with certificates this evening have shown your commitment to developing your skills and putting them at the service of your community, helping to change things for the better, proving that life brings hope and those who live life well can change history. I warmly commend all of you for taking this step and I wish you every success in your future work.
I would also like to congratulate Meitheal on the proactive and innovative way in which it has supported and promoted voluntary and community activity. This new Strategic Plan provides a blueprint for continuing and further improving that important work, and I have great pleasure in launching it here this evening.
Is iontach an obair atá ar siúl agaibh agus guím rath agus séan oraibh go léir san am atá le teacht. Go raibh maith agaibh.