Remarks by President McAleese at the opening of the Millennium Park and the Sheltered Housing
Remarks by President McAleese at the opening of the Millennium Park and the Sheltered Housing Development, Kiskeam
Is cúis mhór áthais dom bheith anseo libh inniu ag an ócaid specialta seo. Tá mé buíoch díbh as an chuireadh agus an fáilte fíorchaoin a chur sibh romham.
I would like to thank Tom Dennehy and the Kiskeam Development Association for the invitation to visit Kiskeam this afternoon and to share in your celebration of the successful culmination of two wonderful projects which are close to the heart of the people in this village.
Over the past few months towns and villages throughout Ireland have sought to celebrate the dawning of a new century in many different ways. Most have involved massive firework displays, which for a country with a dodgy climate is surely a triumph of hope over reason! The challenge you set yourselves was to choose projects which celebrated the unique spirit and character of Kiskeam.
The place where we are born and grow up in exerts a powerful tug on the human psyche. Four thousand years ago the early inhabitants of this area were taking their first tentative steps in building and developing a community, in farming the land, celebrating harvests, sharing rituals of life and death, and the collective wisdom of past generations of the people of Kiskeam has become part of the land itself. We now stand a mere footstep inside the Twenty First century and while the world and indeed Kiskeam have experienced tumultuous changes, this small village has continued to nourish that essential spirit of community, of sharing the good and bad times as a community and of caring for all the people of the community, both old and young alike
By developing the two projects, the millennium park and the sheltered housing development, you have chosen to tell the story of this village of its people and of its vision of the future.
The millennium park with its reconstructed stone circle retells the history of the village and its hinterlands in a fresh and boldly imaginative way. I would like to congratulate you for succeeding in giving the story of the Bronze Age and its impact on the village new life and vibrancy and widening its access to a new generation.
The new generation are living in a society which, thankfully, is enjoying unprecedented growth and prosperity. Our senior citizens lived through and came through very different times. They invested their lives in this future we are now living and it is so important that there is visible evidence of gratitude and respect for their contribution.
Kiskeam’s second project, the sheltered housing development, is a wonderful way of repaying the debt we all owe to the older members of our community. I have just had the opportunity to view some of the homes and I am most impressed by the care and attention to detail with which they have been developed. It is wonderful to see this type of versatile accommodation which is specially adapted to suit the needs of older people. Great thanks is due to contractor, Denis O Sullivan, and architect Greg Collins. As we grow older it is a comfort to be among our peers, among people who understand us, who share our memories, the good and bad times, who share our way of life. I wish all the residents present and future every happiness peace and fulfilment in your new homes. May the memories which gather and grow in these new homes be happy memories: may those happy memories start with today.
The completion of the millennium park and the housing development is the product of the dreams, hard work and the indomitable spirit of many including most importantly the people of Kiskeam. I know that for any village or town, the completion of either one of these projects would be a source of pride and quite rightly so. But your success in completing the two projects tells its own powerful story, the story of a remarkable people who share a deep and timeless sense of belonging, of being a part of a community.
I would like to congratulate the Kiskeam Development Association and the Kiskeam and District Social Action Group and indeed everyone in Kiskeam for their work in successfully completing the two projects. Your personal contribution whether it was your involvement in the slog work of organising or collecting lotto money, or driving the projects forward has culminated in the success of both the millennium park and the sheltered housing development.
I would like to thank you for your very warm welcome and it gives me great pleasure to officially open the millennium park and the sheltered housing complex.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go leir.