REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF THE OLD LIBRARY TRUST HEALTHY LIVING CENTRE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF THE OLD LIBRARY TRUST HEALTHY LIVING CENTRE CREGGAN ESTATE, DERRY MONDAY, 4 DEC
Good afternoon, everybody,
I am delighted to be in Creggan today to officially open this new purpose-designed Healthy Living Centre for the Old Library Trust, and I would like to thank Séamas Heaney for his kind invitation to me to be here today. This new Centre represents years of campaigning, hard work and endeavour by the Directors, staff and residents of the Old Library Trust, and is a great credit to you all.
Geopolitical considerations and the implications of globalisation are probably the last things on you minds this afternoon. But you would be mistaken. What is happening here today, in the Creggan, is a much bigger thing than you may think, and for a number of very good reasons.
If anything has come home to us in recent years it is that all health is global health. There is no infection of which we can say that it is in some distant place and we need never worry about it. If it is hitting one country in the world, it is hitting all the countries of the world, and the first line of defence is health care in cities and in neighbourhoods like this. Today, the Creggan is getting an important fortification in the line of defence against disease.
There is another reason. The countries of the United Nations have set themselves targets which challenge us to halve the numbers living in extreme poverty by the year 2015. Among other things, that challenge requires us to substantially reduce infant and child mortality and to ensure necessary access to primary health care. The United Nations has recognised that there is an imperative to create a more accessible health care system so that the health of the vulnerable can be more adequately protected.
That is the very thing which you are doing here. The work of the Healthy Living Centre is one of the essential building blocks of that international effort. It is an effort in which we all have a part to play, and yours is an important one. Others have the task of releasing the massive flow of human potential, stopping waste, stopping the needless pain of endemic poverty, but here today I am privileged to be able to acknowledge the important responsibilities that this Centre has undertaken.
The great strength of the Healthy Living Centre is in the people and groups who participate in it – in the generous sharing of resources and information and in the effective pooling of energy and talent. Each achievement adds to the strong sense of purpose and confidence which this centre exudes.
Since coming to office, I have had the pleasure of seeing many local community initiatives all over the country. I have witnessed the importance of local effort to improve the quality of life in local communities through sheer hard work, dedication and determination. What all these communities share is the existence of a necessary vision at local level of the needs of a vibrant and developing community – a community that is looking forward and gearing itself to meet the challenges ahead.
Initiatives, like this Healthy Living Centre, form the essential steps in the re‑vitalisation of this community. You have realised that the solution to local problems lies first and foremost in the locality – that communities themselves know their own needs best.
This Centre will be a focal point for the delivery of a range of vital health services to the people of the Creggan and beyond. The provision of the new Centre in the heart of this community is designed to, and will I am sure, overcome the impact of marginalisation and social exclusion by creating access to services and by engaging local people to work in partnerships with statutory service providers.
A further important aspect to the work of the Trust is the promotion of community healing within a community that has suffered the worst excesses of conflict and violence during the past 30 years. The willingness of the key statutory agencies to engage actively in this process shows their recognition of the Creggan’s state-of-readiness for involvement as equal partners in this vital aspect of the regeneration of community life here. It is timely too for the prospect of a power sharing executive in three months time holds out the hope for a truly regenerated, reimagined Northern Ireland, a fully inclusive society, prosperous, peaceful and comfortably working with its neighbouring jurisdiction for the benefit of all who share this island.
Marked inequalities in health persist throughout this island. Major causes of premature mortality in Ireland are circulatory diseases, cancer, accidents and injuries. For all of these, there is a social gradient, the poorer you are, the worse your health is likely to be. But there is also a social responsibility gradient which means that as citizens and individuals who make choices with real consequences for ourselves and for others, we have to take responsibility for our own health and the health of our families. What we eat, how much we drink, whether we smoke, are all personal choices which have far reaching impacts on ourselves, on others and on our society in general. Good choices make for good lives and strong civic societies. That is what this new centre is all about.
I congratulate the partnership that has created the centre and hope that all those who have been involved in the long process of consultation, planning, campaigning and fundraising, feel proud of what they have accomplished in providing the facilities and feel confident of what they can accomplish through the provision of the services.
I wish you all every success with your work in the future.