REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE ON HER VISIT TO VIEW PLANS FOR THE NEW DAY CARE CENTRE IN MALLOW
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE ON HER VISIT TO VIEW PLANS FOR THE NEW DAY CARE CENTRE IN MALLOW SOCIAL SERVICES CENTRE
Is mór an pléisiúir dom bheith anseo i bhur measc inniu. Go raibh míle maith agaibh as ucht bhur bhfáilte chaoin.
I am delighted to join you all here today to view the plans for the new Day Care Centre in Mallow and to wish you every success in your project. Thank you for the great welcome you have given me and thank you also to the Social Services Centre for being such wonderful hosts for us here today.
Having already been this afternoon to see the new Day Care Centre for Alzheimer’s Patients in the town, I can only say how amazed and impressed I am at the energy and care that the people of Mallow have shown in supporting the needs of older people in their community.
This is, of course, the UN International Year of Older Persons – and I can think of no better way of celebrating that event than developing a new Day Care Centre which will be an ongoing source of help and a focus of friendship and social activity for older people in this area.
Just a few weeks ago, I had the privilege of welcoming hundreds of older people from all over the country to Áras an Uachtaráin for a park picnic. It was not only an extremely enjoyable afternoon, but also one which reminded me once again of what an incredible resource older people are. Younger people sometimes forget what a great reservoir of experience and knowledge their parents and grandparents possess, and are only too happy to pass on. We must find fresh new ways for the young to listen to the old, to learn from them and learn about them, to understand that older people can still be crucial teachers of the young, long after retirement, long after the children and grandchildren are grown.
After all, the current economic and cultural success that Ireland is so fortunate to enjoy has been built on the sacrifice and hard work of past generations. It is important that we acknowledge that and express our thanks to you, and to all older people, for all you have given us.
This Day Care Centre is a wonderful way of doing just that – providing important services to older people which will allow them to remain healthy and happy in their own homes, among their family and friends in the community, while receiving the help and support that they and their carers need. More than that, I have no doubt it will be a place where older people will make new friends, swap stories and news – maybe even the odd bit of gossip - and gain the energy and confidence to find new ways of enjoying life.
It will also be a wonderful resource for all the carers of older people – who give so generously of their love and their energy to ensure that the person they care for has the best possible quality of life. The Day Care Centre will give them a much needed chance to recharge their batteries, and regain the physical and emotional strength to continue doing their important work. We owe them those few hours of respite, for without them, so many lives would be so much poorer.
I would like to warmly congratulate Dr. Kevin Brennan, Dr. Michael O’Grady, Roy Willis, Margaret Twomey and everyone associated with the new Day Care Centre for giving so generously of your time and energy to get this project off the ground. I have no doubt that with people of your commitment and dedication, it will not be long before it opens its doors. Your achievement in reaching the final stages of this project, owes much to the strong sense of community spirit that exists here in Mallow. I know that many local organisations have given donations and countless others have held fund-raising projects. Mallow Parish generously donated the site on which the Centre will be built, and Cork County Council Architect’s Office drew up the plans free of charge. On your behalf, I would like to say a very warm thank you to all of them.
I wish you the very best of luck with the new Day Care Centre.
Mo mhíle buíochas libh arís as ucht an chuireadh a thabhairt dom teacht anseo inniu agus
guím Rath Dé oraibh go léir sna blianta atá romhaibh.