REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
A Uachtaráin na hOllscoile Hugh Brady, a dhaoine uaisle. Tá an-áthas bheith i bhur measc inniu ar an ócáid speisialta seo.
This is a landmark day for UCD and for Professor Billy Hall and his team and I am grateful to both Professor Hall and the new President of UCD, Dr Hugh Brady, for inviting me to open the Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases (CRID).
The Centre is Billy Hall’s brainchild and to him must go a large part of the credit for its realisation. He is of course a highly distinguished international scholar in the field of virology and this centre is a crucial part of his vision for UCD and for Ireland as a leading center of research excellence. When I first met Billy six years ago, the Centre was an idea, a very good idea, but not more than an idea. It was an idea that had to be sold, developed, funded and seen through no matter how difficult the obstacles but at last it has shape and substance and Ireland has a considerably enhanced opportunity to offer global leadership in this vitally important area of medical research. It seems particularly appropriate that the completion of the building coincides with the invitation to Professor Hall to join the Advisory Board of the largest Institute in the US dedicated to AIDS research, the Institute of Human Virology established by Professor Robert Gallo, co-discoverer of the AIDS virus. That personal acclaim and recognition puts this Centre and our country in the forefront of the fight against infectious diseases giving us cause for both pride and optimism for it is yet further evidence of a scientific flowering to match our cultural and economic revitalization. That these things feed and reinforce one another is also very evident in this Centre.
The Premier of Neil Jordan’s film ‘Butcher Boy’ was an early fund raiser for the Centre, linking the world of arts and entertainment to this world of search for answers to some of the world’s grimmest medical problems. The Centre itself is also dramatic and very stylish architecturally - already an award winning building and the first in Ireland to be featured in “Domus” one of the world’s leading architectural magazines. Congratulations to the architects and builders who deserve credit for translating Professor Hall’s dream so brilliantly into reality. I only hope that the wonderful views of Dublin city from its laboratories don’t cause the staff too much distraction!
We have this Centre thanks also to a very effective and generous collaboration between a host of national and international individuals and organisations. Many people deserve thanks for supporting the project and funding CRID - the Government, the University and private funders have all been crucial and in particular the early generous donation from the philanthropic CAP Foundation, established by Tony and Linda Pilaro and their family, who gave the vital uplift which guaranteed that the Centre’s development could proceed.
That partnership has now given Ireland a unique resource for research and medical and scientific training in infectious diseases but since it will also operate as a “training hub” for scientists and clinicians from countries of the developing world it is a resource with considerable global potential for good and that beyond all else is the reason why this highly sophisticated place exists - to do good in the world and for the world.
I know that a particular aim of Professor Hall and his colleagues is that their research and development should benefit the populations of developing and deprived nations whose very futures are already blighted by infectious diseases and who urgently need help as well as hope. Here you offer both and it is particularly reassuring to see the collaborations that have been established with infectious disease programmes in both Brazil and Vietnam.
Research areas in the CRID will focus initially on important viral infections. The sad reality of the pandemic of HIV infection is unprecedented in human history and future projections make grim reading. Thankfully the search for new options in the treatment of HIV such as happens here brings us hope for the future and we pray for the day when the world is rid of this devastating scourge. I wish you well in your important work and am grateful to you for what you do to make our world a better place to live in.
Today, by coincidence, is the anniversary of the announcement in 1932, that a Yellow Fever vaccine for people had been found. I hope there will be many such similar days of breakthrough for the diseases which will preoccupy this Centre, HIV, Hepatitis C, and viruses known to cause leukaemias. This is science at its most noble working for humanity at its most vulnerable. We are fortunate to have in Ireland such champions of medical research and now to have this magnificent Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases.
May I take this opportunity to wish Professor Hall and his colleagues well in their future endeavours.
Go maire sibh. Go raibh maith agaibh.