REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE FIRST BEN SMYTH MEMORIAL
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE FIRST BEN SMYTH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP IN KILLINARDEN
Tá athás orm bheith anseo libh inniu chun Scoláireacht Chuimhneachtáin Ben Smyth a bhronnadh don chéad uair.
I thank you for giving me the opportunity to share in this occasion with you today. It is a privilege for me to join you in Killinarden Community School to present the first Ben Smyth Memorial Scholarship. I would like to thank the Trustees of the scholarship fund and in particular, Father Pádraig O Sullivan for inviting me here.
As a parent myself, I can think of nothing worse than the loss of a child in such awful and tragic circumstances. We parents bring our children into the world and invest in them all our hopes and dreams for their future health and happiness. But sometimes no matter how hard we try, we cannot protect them from the dark forces that exist in the outside world. Under these tragic circumstances it would be entirely understandable if you were to turn away from the world in grief and despair. It is a measure of your courage and tenacity that you have not.
My heart goes out to Ben’s parents, his brothers David and Leslie, his sister Rachael, and his extended family – your loss is great, and I hope you can take comfort knowing that today you are with your many friends who also miss Ben and want to join with you in celebrating his short life with this living memorial to him.
This scholarship fund was set up by Ben’s family and friends and the local community of Killanarden. I would like to pay tribute to the many people, Ben’s former classmates, his friends in Cushlawn Park, and the many others who have given their time and support to making this award possible. Whether you made financial contributions or organised raffles and art exhibitions for the fund, you have clearly demonstrated the truth in the Irish saying "Ní neart go cur le chéile – our strength is in our unity".
Ben was a part of this community, and you know, it takes more than bricks and mortar to build a community. It takes a lot of hard work and commitment to turn a group of houses into a real community, a group of people into neighbours. As a community you have had your share of troubles, but you should take pride in the fact that time and again you have shown your ability to pull together in adversity and to work towards the common goal of making your community a safe environment in which your children could grow and prosper.
Killinarden Community School, where Ben was a pupil, is at the heart of this community. Michael Kelly and his dedicated staff work tirelessly to provide encouragement and support to the young people of the area. As a progressive community school, you know how important it is to respond to the needs of your students. The variety of support initiatives and intervention programmes available are aimed at keeping your students in the education system so that, on completion of their second level education, they will have many opportunities available to them to enter the employment market or to continue with their education.
The Ben Smyth Memorial Scholarship will provide a young person the kind of ongoing support which will enable him or her to use these days well, to invest them in education, itself one of the great keys to unlocking human potential and allowing a life to blossom fully as God intended.
This award is a testament to the love and friendship which binds the people in Ben’s life together. Out of the tragedy of his death has come an energy placed in his name, at the service of other young people that they may know the joy of life in all its fullness. Ben, himself, was a gifted artist so it is appropriate that we are assembled in this room surrounded by fine examples of art, craft and design – a place where young people engage in the creative work which he so much enjoyed. So often it is in school that a boy or girl first discovers a talent for the creative and it is here that talent is nurtured, developed and brought to a level of self-confidence fit for the next step in the journey in the adult world. It is the beginning of a journey into the self, the unpacking of the parcelled gift that is every human being.
The first Ben Smyth Memorial Scholarship is to a student who discovered a talent for theatre here in this school - to Noel Mahony. Noel completed his Leaving Certificate last year and while at Killinarden Community school he displayed exceptional creative talent through his involvement in school drama productions. He is now taking a Theatre Studies course in Inchicore College. Congratulations Noel, on behalf of all of us here today. Along with everyone here I wish you every success in your studies and in the future opportunities they will open up to you. Long before you earned this award you earned the respect and admiration on which it rests. It is a compliment to you but also a challenge to use it well as we know you will. In your success others will take pride and take heart.
It is wonderful to see so many of Ben's family, school friends, teachers from this school and his old primary school and friends of the Smyth family here. I am sure it gives great comfort to his family to know how much Ben was loved and respected in school by both his friends and teachers and how much he is desperately missed each and every day.
I would like to finally thank the committee members, Father Pádraig O’Sullivan, Peter Smyth, Patrick Bergin, Hilda Hamilton, Linda Neary and Geraldine Gleeson for their work on the fund.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.