REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE WHEEL’S MILLENNIUM HARVEST AND CELEBRATION MEETING JURY’S HOTEL
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE WHEEL’S MILLENNIUM HARVEST AND CELEBRATION MEETING JURY’S HOTEL, DUBLIN
Cuireann sé áthas ar mo chroí bheith anseo libh inniu. Míle bhuíochas díbh go léir as an chuireadh agus as fáilte a bhí caoin, cneasta agus croiúil.
I would like to express my warm thanks to Dr Mary Redmond, whom I know of old, and to all the members of The Wheel for inviting me to join you at this Harvest and Celebration meeting. My particular thanks to John Doyle for his very warm ‘virtual’ welcome on behalf of the community and voluntary sector.
It is particularly appropriate that new technology should be so warmly embraced by the Wheel as a means of bringing people closer together, sharing information, pooling ideas, accessing services in their community and supporting independent living. I have seen myself what an enormous resource this technology can be, breaking through barriers of age, disability and isolation. It is both humbling and enormously uplifting to see the incredible new lease of life and energy which is generated when people are given the hardware, training, and most of all the encouragement to access this new technology. And the tremendous thing is that we are only at the start of this incredible and exciting revolution. Our aim must be to ensure that it does become truly inclusive, and not a further means of excluding or marginalising those who could most benefit from it.
I would like to warmly congratulate the Wheel for taking this initiative in supporting these four pilot projects, and also of course the participants from the National Association for the Deaf, the Disability Federation of Ireland, the National Association of Parents and the Centre for Independent Living.
So often it is the disabled who are confined to the margins of our society, their talents locked-up and unable to blossom because of the prejudices and fears of others, constantly having to struggle for the space to be heard and seen, to participate as equals, to reach their full potential. It is deeply heartening to see that you are leading the way through these pilot projects, and I hope that your experiences, and the time, effort and energy you have invested, will be richly rewarded by knowing that you have broken new ground and enabled others to follow in your footsteps.
It is appropriate that these pilot projects on digital connection are at the forefront of your achievements, because when you think about it, the Internet itself shares many of the Wheel’s characteristics - a network with no hierarchy, open to all, a pooling of information and advice, diverse, anarchic yet with the capacity, through its ‘search engines’ for people to focus on what they really need.
There is an Irish saying: ‘Ní neart go cur le chéile’ – there is strength in unity – and I think the Wheel captures that spirit in a very real way.
It is a wonderful symbol for the diversity of the community and voluntary sector, a diversity which is not threatened but strengthened when those different strands
– the ‘spokes’ which converge through a central ‘hub’.
Already, the energy and vitality of what is happening within local communities and through the voluntary sector is genuinely awesome. The sheer enthusiasm, generosity of spirit, selflessness and sense of caring has revitalised so many communities, been a lifeline to so many carers, parents, people with disabilities, people who had given up hope.
I think that Dr Redmond put it very well when she described those who work in the voluntary sector as ‘social entrepreneurs’. That community spirit is the capital with which you work, and just think how much more capital can be levered by coming together, pooling that energy, experience and knowledge, creating new partnerships with each other, with central and local government, with the statutory sector and with the business community.
We have before us the potential for a future in which the harmful dichotomy of the included and excluded, wealthy and impoverished, those at the centre and those forever looking on from the margins, is banished forever. This is the first generation which has that potential and the resources to build that Ireland - an Ireland in the 21st century which is a community of equals, enriched by the talents and participation of all. That future is within our reach, if we have the will to achieve it. I believe that we do, and your work is bringing it closer to reality.
I would like to congratulate you once again on what you have achieved to date, and I wish you all every success in your future work.
Nár laga Dia sibh. Go raibh maith agaibh.