REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE YOUTH AND PARENT COUNSELLING PROJECT
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE YOUTH AND PARENT COUNSELLING PROJECT ARDOYNE, BELFAST TUESDAY 22 JUNE, 1999
I am delighted to be here with you this afternoon in my native Belfast. Thank you for the kind invitation to come and visit the Youth and Parent Counselling Project here at the Resource Centre in Ardoyne.
- I know of the good works being done at this centre in response to the needs of the community of North Belfast as they face the social and economic problems that life has presented to them.
- Since its inception the centre has provided a safe and therapeutic environment for people where they are supported and enabled in their journey to reach their full potential, believing in the innate goodness of each person and in their potential for growth.
- The range of services available here today is impressive by any standards, but more so when you consider that the centre is only in existence for a few short years. The Passionists and everyone associated with the success of the Project deserve our praise and thanks for their commitment and dedication to helping others.
- Here in Ardoyne you are no strangers to the decades of conflict in Northern Ireland. You have suffered much as a result of the violence but you have also had to bear the scourge of very high unemployment and the even greater blight of drug and alcohol abuse. The toll on families, on people, young and old has been great, generating feelings of isolation and despair which can become all-consuming if left unaddressed.
- Thankfully as there are some who thrive on the despair and suffering of others, there are many, organisations and individuals alike who meet the challenge, offering a helping hand and direction to those in need of help, guidance and understanding.
- Let no one belittle the significance of your Project to your community. You have a skilled highly motivated team of volunteers - counsellors trained to work with depression, trauma, stress, anger, bereavement, sexual abuse, alcohol and drug abuse to name but some. The significance of your Project relies on the relevance of its services to meeting the needs of your community and you have ensured that the services do meet those needs. You have achieved much and are set to achieve much more.
- As we are on the eve of a new Millennium we look forward with hope to the many benefits it will inevitably bring – advances in medicine – improved technology – Northern Ireland winning the World Cup! It is a time of great hope for this island. The Agreement of last year gives us a promise of a peaceful future based on real partnership and respect equality and balance. I have seen this hope take root. I have seen communities from both traditions who have had to live with deprivation beginning to realise how much they hold in common and what they stand to gain together. I have experienced people reaching out across divides that have kept them apart for generations – taking responsibility for shaping a new society, creating a new language and building a new space in which peace can grow. We have come a long way but we have a long way to go yet.
- I would like to finish by thanking Father Kenneth Brady and the other members of the Projects Management Group for inviting me here to meet with you. I congratulate everyone associated with the Project for your many achievements so far and I wish you every success in the years ahead.
- Thank You.