REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE EUROPEAN YEAR OF VOLUNTEERING 2011
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE EUROPEAN YEAR OF VOLUNTEERING 2011 ROYAL HOSPITAL KILMAINHAM
Dia dhíbh go léir inniu. Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo libh ar an ócáid speisialta
It is my great pleasure to join you this afternoon to celebrate the launch of the European Year of Volunteering 2011. Thank you to Elaine Bradley for the invitation and to each of you for such a lovely welcome. Can I in turn welcome you to this special ceremony and extend a particular cead míle fáilte to Minister Alex Attwood, the Minister for Social Development in Northern Ireland.
Mother Teresa once said that volunteers are unpaid not because their work is worthless but because it is priceless. We know how harsh the world has become in this time of recession as the flow of money through the economy and people’s purses dries up. We have no idea how unbearable our country and our world would be if the flow of volunteering generosity stopped coursing through our lives. It would spell nothing less than a psychological ice-age. That is how essential volunteers are, how critical they are to our civic well-being, our civic resilience and our civic strength.
The kind of volunteers we are celebrating here are people who enhance life by doing good things that could not happen but for the volunteer.
It would be impossible to enumerate what volunteers add to the quality of our lives for they have a vast reach and unlimited imaginations. Our national games that bring so much fun, skill, memories and friendly disagreements into our lives rest almost entirely on the passion of volunteers who keep on turning up like clockwork week in and week out. There is a sophisticated volunteer run web of practical care that makes life better for young, old, disabled, bereaved, addicted, illiterate, lonely, abused, suicidal, sick, poor, unemployed. There is a weft of support for international, national and local charities, voluntary agencies, self-help groups, fundraisers, community, neighbourhood and parish initiatives, schools, hospitals and hospices, care of the environment, our cultural heritage, local economic development, and - so many things volunteers do that to start to list them is to be defeated because it would be impossible in a short address to adequately cover the infinite ingenuity and reach of the volunteer. But what they do matters to us enormously as individuals and as a common human family.
Right now this minute kids are turning up to scouts or sports training and volunteers are there faithfully to look after them. A family is sitting around a fire and has food on the table thanks to the St Vincent de Paul. A homeless woman is dropping in to Simon or Focus Point or Trust and they are there for her. A cancer patient is pouring out her fears to a counsellor. A group of senior citizens are on a fun outing, a man with literacy problems is in class with a tutor, a class of schoolchildren are bagpacking to raise money for an Aids orphanage in Zambia, a cross-community group in Northern Ireland is working to maintain the hard-won peace, a civil defence unit is practising the drill for an emergency or disaster. Each one is investing, quietly and unobtrusively in our civic strength and in the quality of our civic life.
The Presidency has given me a unique opportunity to see at first hand the massive range and strength of voluntary effort that is part of Irish life and culture. Though we are apt to characterise the Celtic Tiger years very cynically right now as we cope with the difficulties and disappointments of the recession, it is worth remembering that in 2003 volunteers showed the world what Ireland was made of when we were able to host the Special Olympics World Summer Games only because of a phenomenal mobilisation of volunteers nationwide. People dug deep into their pockets to raise the huge amount of money needed, they opened their homes to host international competitors and thousands joined the volunteer army that made the event not simply an outstanding success but a showcase of all that is good, positive, enduring and hopeful about our country.
Time and again I encounter voluntary groups which started with literally nothing but a good idea for a needed social initiative, developed around a kitchen table. Each has a story of how, against the odds they delivered their idea, a creche, a senior citizens housing complex, a youth club, an immigrant support group, a national organisation…. and there are many such stories. I think of the Irish Wheelchair Asssociation which started fifty years ago when eight people frustrated by how wheelchair users were confined to their homes and to limited life opportunities, each threw a ten shilling note into a plastic bucket and started an Association that has grown into a wonderful success story with a strong professional pillar still supported by and reliant on a national band of volunteers.
Many voluntary groups which deal with poverty and mental health problems are we know under intense pressure as a result of the economic downturn which is causing such hardship. Many volunteers are themselves under those same pressures with pay cuts, job losses and financial worries casting shadows over their innate optimism and “can-do” attitude. Yet we also see in these times an increase in volunteering that is reassuring and commendable for it tells us that we still firmly believe in the truth of the old adage – ní neart go chur le chéile - our strength comes from our unity - from facing into problems together and pulling together so we muster the communal strength that becomes the resource of mutual support.
There is a saying that ‘he who gives when he is asked, has waited too long’. Volunteers are people who see a need and say “let me help.” That offer of help is made without thought of any personal reward beyond the fulfillment that comes from giving. But in this year which focusses on volunteering I take this opportunity to warmly thank Ireland’s volunteers and to encourage them to keep on volunteering and to encourage others to get involved, to volunteer and to discover the hidden treasury of fun, friendships, insight, wisdom, experience and personal well-being that comes from being of service to others.
I wish the National Committee every success in its exciting plans for the year ahead. It is great that those plans include collaborative activities with our friends and colleagues in Northern Ireland.
I know of no other country which has such a dynamic volunteer ethic at work enriching everyday life. In this year I hope we all learn never to take the volunteer for granted and never to pass up the opportunity to be a volunteer. The bad news is that volunteers don’t qualify for redundancy but the good news is that they are never likely to be made redundant - for where two or more are gathered there is work for volunteers. Bail ó Dhia ar an obair!
Thank you