REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE CORK PERSON OF THE YEAR
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE CORK PERSON OF THE YEAR AWARD ROCHESTOWN PARK HOTEL
Is breá liom bheith anseo i bhúr measc ag an ócaid specialta seo, agus ba mhaith liom mo bhúiochas a chur in iul dibh as an chuireadh agus as fáilte fíorchaoin.
My thanks to Manus O’Callaghan for providing this great excuse to get back to Cork again so soon after that lovely Christmas broadcast which ended a fantastic year of celebrating Cork as European Capital of Culture. Cork didn’t just make Cork proud – it made Ireland proud as it showcased in so many different ways the unique genius of this place and its people.
Like many others I enjoyed being a participant and a spectator at many of last year’s brilliantly organised events and I was conscious that behind each one of them was a massive human effort.
Everyone involved knew that their city and their work was being tested as well as presented, yet no-one shied away from the pressures and challenges, for this is a city and a county where community has always mattered, where neighbourhood matters, street matters. It is a place where people reach out to one another, drawing each other into intimate networks of care, of shared interests, of friendship and comradeship which underpin every layer of life, business, sport, arts, religion, family, tourism, politics, education, environment. This indefinable Corkness is spread by the men, women and children who commit to building up a decent, high quality civic life and while they do it for no reward or thanks, these awards are an important source of encouragement to them as well as recognition of what the rest of us owe them.
Each citation tells the story of a do-er, a person who makes the most of their time and their talents, whose enthusiasm inspires others, gets things done and creates a source of proud civic experience and civic memory. These are people who, quite simply, make life worthwhile for, even in the greatest adversity, they find the courage and the creativity to make things better. Without them we are no more than a bunch of strangers, careless about each other and about our world.
We are lucky to have so many of them and especially fortunate that in these more prosperous and busy times there are people in every sphere whose sheer nobility of spirit lift our hearts and our hopes.
The twelve people nominated as people of the month last year are fine examples of what makes Cork such a dynamic county. We thank each of them for their personal investment in excellence which has brought them here today and hope that these awards will encourage them and inspire others.
I congratulate everyone who worked so hard to make this occasion such a success – the organisers, the sponsors, the judges, supporters and the hotel staff. With most of 2006 still stretching out in front of us full of blank unlived days – it is very reassuring to start the year in the company of the men and women who have made the past a place of pride and who are determined that the future will be even better still.
I congratulate and salute you for what you have accomplished and I wish you many, many, more successes in the future.
Gura fada buan sibh agus go raibh maith agaibh.