REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE IOB NEW EDUCATION CENTRE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE INSTITUTE OF BANKERS IN IRELAND NEW EDUCATION CENTRE, NORTH WALL QUAY
Dia dhíbh a cháirde. Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo libh inniu
I am very happy to have this opportunity to be with you here today and I want to thank Dr. Anthony Walsh for inviting me to perform a very pleasant task – the opening of your new Education Centre.
Bankers for some reason don’t seem to get an easy time from anyone, except perhaps from fellow bankers. I suppose I don’t need to point that out to you, however it even extends to the world of literature. And it’s almost as if all the great artists in history seem to have had parents who wanted them to become bankers against their wishes. Oliver Goldsmith’s words on the subject hardly paint a pleasant portrait – he said
“Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, where wealth accumulates and men decay”. But someone has replied to Goldsmith:
“But they’re not so unfortunate as those, where wealth declines and population grows”.
Banking really has become an extraordinarily complex business. For a non-banker like myself the financial pages are replete with mystery. I particularly like the idea of being able to buy futures, and would like to be able to buy a successful future for my family and for everyone in Ireland. But it seems not to be that simple – either that or you’re just not sharing the secret.
Pretty much just about everyone nowadays must grapple with worries about mortgages, pensions, savings, insurance and debt. Inadequate understanding of financial concepts and products can lead us into unexpected risks in the financial field at a time when we are being encouraged to take responsibility for our futures. The need has never been so pronounced for a financially literate banking profession to master the technicalities of their business. Only a profession, which is comfortable with the tools at its disposal, can explain difficult and complex financial questions in terms we all can understand.
The banking sector is not just difficult and complex. It is also very successful and it is good to see that that success has resulted in employment in the Irish banking sector almost doubling in the past decade, mostly in the domestic sector. And the competition is tough - more than half of the top twenty banks in the world have operations here. Driven by that keen competition, banking in Ireland is robust, diverse, innovative and exciting. It is also a sector that understands the importance of and has taken ownership of its educational agenda.
The education provided by the Institute is given throughout the island of Ireland and as such represents another important link between people north and south. But its reach goes further - its collaboration with the Manchester Business School through the MBA programme is both a bridge to our nearest neighbours and also recognition of the fact that education knows no boundaries. Another example of the Institute’s imaginative approach to education is its distance-learning programme which again provides another important and convenient mechanism for students of banking to learn. Aidan tells me that in this academic year more than five thousand students will study on twenty Institute educational courses in ten centres – a truly impressive statistic by any measure. I sincerely hope that the momentum will be maintained in the years ahead and with the careful stewardship that has been a feature of the Institute and this latest education centre, it’s a safe supposition that the future looks even brighter - for education is ultimately the very best investment any one of us can make. The short-term pain is rewarded with very tangible long–term gain – not just for the individual, not just for the banking institution, but for the public and the wider society.
To students and recent graduates here today I wish you well with your studies and future careers. When your studies are complete I hope that you will be equipped, not just academically with all the technical know-how and wisdom, but with a profound and active spirit of social responsibility that comes from studying the needs of the human beings whose well-being, peace of mind, life’s chances are intimately connected to the world in which you work. That blend of high skill and social responsibility brings the kind of confidence and respect that makes for a satisfying and fulfilled professional career as well as a trusting and confident public. This splendid new facility sets a fresh and dynamic agenda for the profession of banking in Ireland. I wish it and all of you every success.
And so it is with pleasure that I now declare the Institute of Bankers of Ireland New Education Centre officially open.
Go maire sibh. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir