REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS ENCOUNTER AT ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS ENCOUNTER AT ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN, THURSDAY, 27 MAY, 2004
A chairde, cuireann sé áthas orm agus mo fhear cheile, Mairtín, fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir chuig Áras an Uachtaráin innú.
Martin and I would like to welcome you here today to Áras an Uachtaráin. From hearing the complaints from so many seemingly dedicated students in the Drawing room a few minutes ago, I would like to apologise for taking you away from your schoolwork this afternoon. I had no idea that the prospect of missing some time out of the classroom would cause such upset. Anyway, not to worry I had a quiet word with some of the teachers and they’ve kindly agreed to give some extra homework to make up for it – so now everyone can be happy! And I promise I will try to match whatever excitement you’re missing back at school.
Thank you all for the wonderful projects you prepared on the theme ‘The Flags and Countries of the New Europe.’ I was bowled over by the quality and range of presentations. You have obviously spent many hours and days working on them and I want to thank you and your teachers for all the hard work and effort. It is much appreciated.
And of course you can all tell me why I picked the theme flags and countries of the new Europe – and no it’s not because I have to teach my staff here where they are. Do you know what happened here in the Áras on the first day of this month? Well on the 1st of May, we had a ceremony here in the gardens we are looking out on to celebrate the ten new member states joining the European Union. Now it has twenty-five countries and more than four hundred and fifty million people. For you that means that whatever you decide to do in life you will be able to do it in at least twenty-five countries and by that time there will no doubt be even more countries to choose from. Isn’t that amazing? It’s also very different from when I was at school. The world is very much your oyster.
And being a member of the European Union has brought us many other benefits. I’m not going to dwell on all that boring stuff about macro-economic policy and growth and stability pacts, and it’s not just because you’re a bit young to understand it – because I can assure you whether you’re aged 10 or 5 times 10, it’s terrible stuff to try and digest. No, the benefits I’m talking about are to do with how our country has been transformed, how we have now a vibrant multi-cultural society thanks to our membership of the EU and also because our good fortunes in recent years have made our island a place where people from many other countries come to find work and live. People of my generation were forced to leave Ireland and go to Britain and America and other countries, in their thousands because they could not find work here, in much the same way as people from many countries around the world come to Ireland now to seek opportunities they were denied in their own countries. You are very lucky young people because you are a generation that will, please goodness, never know what it is like to be forced to leave your family, home and friends to seek opportunity elsewhere. We are doubly lucky in fact because no longer will we be forced to say goodbye to our young people but also, because we have attracted people from other countries to Ireland, we now can get to know people from different cultures, learn new languages, enjoy new music, poetry, dance. We are very fortunate indeed.
There are those however who see difference as something to be mocked and jeered and ridiculed – those who are unkind and sometimes cruel to people who look different, speak a different language, dress differently. You’ve heard them I’m sure, I know I have. Ireland has always been a country renowned for its welcome to the stranger – the céad mile fáilte. We must be careful that we do not allow that welcome to turn to rejection – that we stand up for those who are worse off than we are, those who have been forced to come here because they have been badly treated in their own countries, or could not support themselves there. That they were forced to leave must have been bad enough – that they came to a new place and were treated unkindly is unacceptable. It is up to each of us to ensure that no matter what, we treat every human being with respect and kindness, no exceptions.
I hope that you will enjoy yourselves this afternoon and that you will leave with some happy memories of your visit to the Áras. My thanks to the teachers who have made the arrangements and brought you here today. My thanks also to our wonderful MC this afternoon Paul Kennedy, the very talented Hallelujah Choir, our friends in Civil Defence for their expert assistance and the staff here at the Áras who have worked hard to make today enjoyable for everyone.
Tá súil agam go mbainfidh sibh taithneamh as an lá. Go raibh maith agaibh.