REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE LIMERICK CIVIC TRUST’S GEORGIAN HOUSE PROJECT
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE LIMERICK CIVIC TRUST’S GEORGIAN HOUSE PROJECT FRIDAY, 10TH DECEMBER 1999
Is cúis mhór áthais dom bheith anseo libh inniu ag an ócáid speisialta seo. Tá mé buíoch díbh as an chuireadh agus fáilte fíorchaoin.
I am delighted to be here today in Limerick to formally open this magnificently restored house on behalf of the Limerick Civic Trust.
As we enter the last days of this fading century, it is most appropriate that we are celebrating the restoration of a building from a previous century. Cherishing our past, recognising it as a treasure and a resource, as a unique part of our heritage, is not in any way incompatible with being a modern, forward-looking nation. It is rather a reflection of our maturity in coming to terms with a rich and complex past and the best possible guarantee of facing the future with confidence, with a complete and rounded sense of who we are as a people.
It has not always been so, Judith Hill, in her book “The Building of Limerick” states that “there is ambiguity in the contemporary attitude to the past; there is the impulse to destroy the worn”. That highlights all the more the achievements of the Limerick Civic Trust in doing so much to conserve and restore Limerick’s architectural heritage and in particular, of course, Number 2 Pery Square. If architecture is an embodiment of the built memory, then this building is part of Limerick’s rich memorial to past architects and builders and a storehouse, in its own right, of many memories and stories. It is a part of our legacy which, once destroyed, is gone forever, lost to future generations who would not thank us for our neglect. So I want to pay a well-earned tribute to Senan O’Connor and everyone in the Limerick Civic Trust for being our conscience and the hands of our work.
This is, of course, just one of your many achievements which have included the total restoration of the Bishops Palace in the King’s Island and St. Munchin’s Church and graveyard; the restoration of old cannons for public display and the development of the Potato Market. It is important to have people like you – people who care, people who – for no gain other than the satisfaction of knowing that what you do is important – have dedicated your imagination, time and energy to these projects. I know that you have also been involved in helping to set up other Civic Trusts throughout the country, including Derry. For all that work, you deserve our warm congratulations.
It would be impossible to mention all the people involved over the years with the Trust’s activities. However, a special mention should be made of the Director of the Trust, Denis Leonard who has done so much to further your activities for so long. I would also like to commend Dorothy Meaney, who has been a very dedicated Project Supervisor for this initiative.
I would like to pay tribute, also, to the FAS workers who were involved in the restoration work. Everywhere I go it seems that FÁS has been there before me! More importantly they have been there and done that! Whatever about the T-shirts, they have the sleeves of whatever they are wearing rolled up to get another important job done.
What you have now is a truly wonderful resource, both for communities in the place itself and for the individual workers who have acquired the new skills and experience so essential to career development. The skills gained on this project in restoring traditional stonework and ornate plasterwork are especially valuable and I wish all of them the very best of luck in the future.
The restoration of this house was a very ambitious project which cost over £1 million to restore. Significant funding was made available by the EU via the Department of the Environment and Local Government in recognition of the excellent track record of the Civic Trust in its conservation work. I know that it also took a great deal of fundraising – never the easiest of jobs – and I would like to thank all the tireless volunteers who took on this thankless task, and the people of Limerick for their generosity. I am sure there is a special place in heaven for fund-raisers. I am equally sure there is a special place at the opposite end of heaven for friends of fundraisers! All of us who have fund-raising friends know only too well the machiavellian depths their imagination can go to in inventing fresh ways of parting us from our cash. I am delighted that the efforts of everyone involved were recognised by winning the Heritage/Environment category in last year’s AIB Better Ireland Awards for this project.
A most important aspect of the conserving of old heritage buildings is to ensure that the public is able to enjoy the beauty of that restoration. The Civic Trust is to be congratulated for their decision to use this building as a visitor centre with exhibits on Georgian Limerick and to open it up for a variety of civic uses.
I congratulate all of you once again on this exceptional achievement and I wish Limerick Civic Trust every success in the future. It now gives me great pleasure to declare No. 2 Pery Square officially open.
Go maire sibh. Go raibh maith agaibh.