REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE RECEPTION FOR WOMEN’S GROUPS ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE RECEPTION FOR WOMEN’S GROUPS ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN WEDNESDAY 24 APRIL, 2002
Tá an-áthas orm fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir go dtí Áras an Uachtaráin inniu.
I am delighted to welcome each and everyone one of you to the Áras today. We have women’s groups from every corner of this island representing many different interests and activities but what you have in common is the reason behind why you set up your individual groups in the first place captured so well in the old Irish saying ‘Ní neart go cur le chéile’ – there is unity in strength. By coming together you know that you can achieve much more than you can on your own.
Women get together in groups like any of yours here today, to create new opportunities and choices not just in their own lives but in the lives of others. Out of your work come new friendships, new support systems through which women find courage to learn new things, to cope better with life’s challenges, and develop more coherent and powerful voices to raise awareness of many important issues throughout our communities and our country.
For many women the fact that your organisation exists is their pathway to the development of new skills and interests and the discovery of talents that might otherwise lie dormant, un-revealed. It is no exaggeration to say that your work has changed individual lives, making them stronger, more confident, more hope-filled and every woman you have helped to become more resilient and more positive is a huge investment in our civic society which flourishes when our people flourish. So you are owed a lot, not just by the individuals you work for, but by the society which benefits hugely from what you do. Your work stitches together a random collection of individuals. It sews together the fabric of this thing we call community. It makes community happen and it makes community work. So today we celebrate all you do for us and remind ourselves how easy it is to take all this for granted and how impoverished our lives would be if your work was not done, if your organisations never existed.
We are fortunate to be living at a time of great opportunity for women – in business, in politics, in sport, in community activities, in every sphere of public and private life. And isn’t it about time! Gradually the complex structure which constrained the role of women in society is being dismantled and the genius of women is flowing more freely than ever before. But that is not to say that life is any easier for today’s women. More choices bring their own challenges and stresses and the reality is of course that the job of making our world a truly equal place for all women and for all human beings is a job very far from finished.
Robert Louis Stevenson said “to become what we are and to become what we are capable of becoming is the only end in life.” Our country is only just beginning to get to know its own strength as more and more of our people get the education and the opportunity denied to so many past generations. We have seen the results in terms of economic and cultural confidence and yet we know that we are still only flying on one wing. There are still many reservoirs of talent, particularly among women which have yet to be fully and effectively utilised. Through your work we have an insight into the depth and freshness of women’s contributions in so many spheres of influence and that experience makes us righteously impatient to see those contributions flourishing in areas where we have had traditionally limited or restricted access. We want to be around to enjoy an Ireland that is flying on both wings.
I congratulate all of you on your determination to achieve that Ireland and I wish you well in your future work.
I hope that each one of you has a most enjoyable time here today, that it will revitalise your store of energy and enthusiasm and that you will go home with warm memories of your visit and perhaps a few new friendships formed by mixing and mingling with those you meet under this roof.
I would like to finish by taking this opportunity to thank our MC for the afternoon, Paul Kennedy. I would also like to thank our wonderful entertainers who have helped make today a special day for you; our Harpist, Denise Kelly, who welcomed you into the Front Hall with her beautiful playing; and in this room, the very talented musicians here from ‘Craobh Seán Treacy, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann’. My thanks also to John Gould, the Civil Defence Officer on duty for his expert assistance, and of course the staff here at Áras who work very hard to make occasions such as this enjoyable for everyone.
Go raibh maith agaibh.