REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF GLEANN ARD HOUSING PROJECT
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF GLEANN ARD HOUSING PROJECT ON WEDNESDAY 18 JULY, 2001
Is cúis mhór áthais dom bheith anseo libh inniu ag an ocaid specialta seo. Tá me buíoch díbh as an chuireadh agus an fáilte fíorchaoin a chur sibh romham.
I am delighted to join you today on this very happy occasion to officially open the Gleann Ard Housing Development and I’m very grateful to Kathleen Mullen for the kind invitation.
I warmly congratulate everyone associated with Mid Offaly Housing Association and Respond Social Housing Association for their efforts in bringing to fruition yet another successful project for Mount Bolus. In less than ten years you have created both the Ard Aoibhinn and Gleann Ard projects and through them you have given new hope, new heart to a lot of people of all age groups. The scale of what you set out to achieve was very ambitious and so your growing catalogue of achievements is all the more remarkable. Many people aspire to things. Many people see needs that should be filled but it takes very special peoples to move from aspiring to doing and succeeding, to go from seeing a need to filling that need. The journey is long, arduous and definitely not for the faint hearted. It is for the committed and you are lucky to have a committed team of “doers” here.
In this fast moving, fast changing world, it is perhaps all too easy to lose sight of the things that matter most to us. But those of you involved with Gleann Ard and indeed Ard Aoibhinn before it, recognise a core need in all of us, the need to find a space for ourselves, a place where we can feel at ease, feel valued and at peace, a place we can call home.
At a time when our country is experiencing a level of prosperity only dreamed of by earlier generations, it is a frustrating but all too real fact that there are still many, many people who are not yet reaping the fruits of our success. They remain on the margins of our society, watching but not participating in today’s success, mere spectators. They challenge us. They call us to witness to a caring society, to be conscious that they are still waiting, to be impatient and anxious to draw them into the mainstream, to be restless until that has been accomplished, to be determined to see it happen in our generation.
This generation which has so much will be judged by future generations in terms of how we deal with poverty and social exclusion in all its manifestations including homelessness. We are the first generation in Ireland to have access to the resources, the insight and the energy to fulfill the destiny of this republic of equals and to truly draw the margins into the centre. An essential part of being at the centre, the heart of community life is to have a home, a place where each of us counts in a very unique and special way.
Thankfully there are many groups of people throughout the length and breadth of our wonderful country such as those who make up the Mid Offaly Housing Association who offer a helping hand to those in need and through it a bridge to their own self-belief, to new opportunities to real control over their lives.
Over the course of a lifetime needs can change dramatically whether through bad fortune, accident, illness, or simply the passage of time and advancing years. To those who have never known the awesome uncertainty and fear that comes from losing one’s home or being fearful of having no home, it can be difficult to imagine the freefall, the lostness, the feeling of being on the wrong side of a locked door, the isolation, the loneliness, the depths of human need. Once many years ago my own family lost our home literally overnight as a result of sectarian violence. I have never forgotten the sickening loss of certainty, of a centre of gravity the feeling of abandonment. It was then, when we were at our most weak and helpless that we badly needed the help of others and we were lucky that it was there to support and sustain us over a bad patch. Thank God that there are people, motivated simply by a desire to help others who willingly provide practical assistance and support to those who are experiencing difficulties at a time when they need it most.
You deserve enormous credit for your commitment and your care. Your work reassures us that we live in a community that cares, that is not distracted from concern for others by selfishness or preoccupation with chasing the Celtic Tiger to the exclusion of all else. Your work allows us to take pride in ourselves, to see these good times as times to be widely enjoyed, times to be grateful for, times to share with all our neighbours. It is easy to see what a tremendous impact this development will make on the lives of many people here in Mount Bolus. It is now up to all of you to make this collection of bricks and mortar into homes and into a resilient, strong and neighbourly community.
There are many people associated with the Gleann Ard development who deserve our gratitude. I have already mentioned the members of the Mid Offaly Housing Association and the Respond Social Housing Association. We should also thank Offaly County Council, Derrydolney Building Contractors, John Costelloe and Brian McCarthy who were all very involved in the project.
I wish all the residents of Gleann Ard present and future every happiness, peace and fulfillment in your new homes. May the memories that gather and grow in these new homes be happy memories, may those happy memories start with this special day.
It is my great pleasure to declare Gleann Ard officially open.
Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.