REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE NORTH WESTERN HEALTH BOARD SMOKE FREE LEITRIM PROJECT
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE NORTH WESTERN HEALTH BOARD SMOKE FREE LEITRIM PROJECT ST. CLARE’S COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL
I am delighted to have this opportunity to meet all those involved in the Smoke Free Leitrim Project. My thanks in particular to Sean Sweeney, the Principal of St. Clare’s for kindly providing us with the use of this school for today.
- This is a valuable and important project, the result of three year’s hard work and co-operation between the North Western Health Board, school managements, teachers, children and parents throughout Leitrim. The project sends important messages to our children – not only about the health-risks of smoking – but also in supporting them to be assertive, to reject peer pressure, to have the information needed to make their own decisions and the strength to stand by those decisions. These are important lessons for the other pressures they will face as they grow older, not least in respect of alcohol and drugs. We all have a responsibility to ensure that these lessons are taught well and that our children have the confidence and self-esteem to stand on their own two feet.
- To the children, may I say how impressed I am with the posters you have produced for this project. They are wonderful pieces of work which show your interest, knowledge and creativity, as well as your care and concern for yourselves and your community. I can see that you have learned a lot about this important topic, and I have no doubt you have also been helping to educate your parents and others. Today, through your posters, you have been teaching all of us. The fact that the winning poster in this initiative will be used in a Health Service campaign will bring the message you have learned to many others.
- You are true Ambassadors of the Smoke Free message and representatives that each of your schools can be proud of. I hope that, as you move into second level schools, you will continue to stick by your decision not to smoke and that your example will encourage others to do the same.
- Encouraging people to be Smoke Free raises important questions. How best can we motivate children, young people and adults to lead smoke free lives? How can we help people to realise that smoking does not deliver on the many things it seems to offer? How can we support people in taking responsibility for their own health and the health of others? Through your participation in this project, you have been directly involved in working out the answers to these questions. I have no doubt that the solutions you have found will lead to positive and effective results. I hope also that this initiative has helped to ensure that you, and other young people, have learned the skills necessary to be able to deal with the challenges you will face as you grow older.
- We as adults have an important role in supporting children as they grow and develop. This support is best seen when adults, particularly parents, are positive role models. We can help make the decision not to smoke an easier one for young people. Projects like this are important in bringing home to all of us the need to be aware of the impact of our own behaviour on others, and the message that adults send young people when they smoke.
- I warmly commend the North Western Health Board members and staff for taking this important initiative, particularly the Chief Executive Officer, Pat Harvey; the Senior Environmental Health Officer, Martin Beirne; the Health Promotion Officer, Maura McNally; and Olive McGovern, who has done excellent work, in conjunction with the Steering Group, as Project Worker of Smoke Free Leitrim.
- The Health Board has been at the forefront of health promotion through this and other initiatives over many years. Their success is due in no small part to the support given by the community, and particularly by voluntary groups, school authorities, teachers and parents in this area. I would like to congratulate all those who have been involved in this project within the participating schools.
- I wish all of you continued success in your health promotion efforts in the future.