REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OPENING OF THE JOHN HUME BUILDING AT NUI, MAYNOOTH
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING OF THE JOHN HUME BUILDING AT NUI, MAYNOOTH, FRIDAY, 23 APRIL, 2004
Dia dhíbh a cháirde. Tá lúcháir orm bheith anseo libh inniu ar an ócáid stairiúil seo.
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a curious set of journeys that provokes an Armagh man to invite an Antrim woman to dedicate a building in Kildare to a Derryman. I can say with a heart and a half that the invitation from Dr. Seamus Smyth, President of the University to officially open this magnificent John Hume Building was especially welcome for it gives me a chance to pay tribute to a man who more than any other in my lifetime, has had such a profound and inspiring impact on the island of Ireland. It also gives me a chance to pay a warm tribute to Seamus himself and his exemplary leadership of NUI Maynooth which ends in two months time. Two good Ulstermen to whom we all owe so much. And not forgetting the women - a particular word of congratulations to Dr. Pat Hume whose constant unassuming work was without doubt and still is the wind beneath John’s wings.
This University has good reason to be particularly proud of John Hume and his unequalled record of achievement for he is one of your own, a graduate of this great university, the kind of ambassador every other university must surely be envious of. But more than that, education has been at the core of the story of John Hume – student, teacher, civil rights leader, politician, writer, statesman, Nobel Prize winner and healer of divisions.
Some years ago John in an interview recalled the wise words of his father “Stick at those books, son. It's the only way forward". How right he was. Nelson Mandela made a similar point in his acclaimed autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom” when he wrote that “it was only through education that the son or daughter of a peasant can become a doctor.”
Education - the road into the self, the road out to the world, the most potent human force in breaking down disadvantage, empowering minds with courage and confidence, pushing out the boundaries of knowledge, giving people control over their own lives, and their countries’ destinies. The forces of history had conspired to waste the talents of so many of our forebears, consigning them to under-achievement, to lives half lived under clouds of oppression, exclusion and withering neglect. But even in the shadows they dreamed of a different Ireland and they knew education would be the catalyst for change.
In his great poem ‘From the Canton of Expectation’ that other Nobel Laureate, Derryman and St. Columb’s man, Seamus Heaney writes of the changes wrought in Northern Ireland by the first generation to benefit from free education. He describes them as having “intelligences brightened and unmannerly as crowbars”. The crowbar metaphor is apt for they faced a road of deep-rooted obstacles all of which would need to be shifted if a culture of equality, justice, fairness and freedom was to flourish in place of sectarian contempt and superiority. The man who led the way was John Hume, man of conviction, man of peace. Brought up in a humble home where the value of education and neighbour helping neighbour was preached with fervour, he is the example par excellence of the power of learning and the power of the human person who commits with passion to changing the things around him that are manifestly wrong and unjust.
John is such a person and it was his courage that inspired a generation to think differently, act differently and to shift from a culture of conflict to a culture of consensus. The personal cost to him and to his family has been enormous - the commitment, of both John and Pat, total.
My first memory of John goes back to the early 1960’s to a draughty parish hall in Ardoyne and to a young man who broke open the barriers around my own mind when he explained the concept of self-help at the heart of the then embryonic movement - the Credit Union. I can still remember how proud I was to count the pennies and halfpennies in those early days because I knew this apparently modest work was part of a fresh compelling vision for our people. John Hume became the principal architect and champion of that vision.
In a matter of weeks John will retire as a Member of the European Parliament. Since 1969, he has served in a range of parliaments, spoken on platforms throughout the world, but his heart was always in the homes and the streets where the suffering inflicted by sectarianism and by violence made so many lives a living hell. His, always and ever, the voice of sanity and of hope, a voice which insisted that we were capable of transcending this mess, these noxious hatreds, by dialogue, peaceful, respectful dialogue.
Few would have blamed him if he felt exasperated or disillusioned or if he had given up entirely, particularly during the worst years of the “Troubles”, years indeed when he himself was so often horribly maligned and misunderstood.
Yet he persisted and it is no exaggeration to state that without John Hume there would be no peace process and no Good Friday agreement. Our children have a future, a good future thanks to his sacrifice, his resilience and his determination. With his degree in French and History from this University, John Hume could have had an easy life, a quiet life. With his brain-power he could have made a fortune and spent it, without a murmur of criticism, on a life of comfort. He chose to turn his back on all those possibilities and to make of his life a gift of leadership, a gift that would raise his people up and create a place to be proud of, a modern, egalitarian Ireland, its communities reconciled, comfortable with its differences, no longer hostage to its past, an island of friends and partners working together to bring jobs and prosperity, a significant voice in Europe and in the world, a small voice with an uncompromising belief in tolerance, in human rights and in peaceful, democratic dialogue. As he retires, that vision is revealing itself and John enjoys a unique level of popular affection and esteem, vindicated at last.
This building which carries his name will continue to vindicate the role of education and in particular higher education as the engine-room of modern Ireland. It has been funded under the Higher Education Authority’s Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) which has had such a beneficial impact on creating a world class environment for Irish and other researchers. With the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA) and the Department of Psychology researching and teaching in this building, it is set to become a center of intellectual gravity very quickly. I am sure that will give this humble man even greater pleasure than the naming of the building after him.
I commend all associated with this building and this day – Government; the private sector for adding their support; the Higher Education Authority for managing the PRTLI; the architects, designers, construction company and workers; the university staff and especially its President, Dr. Seamus Smyth, whose illustrious term of office is coming to a close and to whom I extend my best wishes. This University has blossomed under his hand and this building is yet another example of his imaginative leadership. As an Ulsterwoman I am inordinately proud of both Seamus and John and their respective legacies.
Ireland was a different place the day John Hume stepped up to Maynooth’s podium to take his degree. His city was heading into a nightmare. This island’s greatest export was its people. So much has changed and at last we have a good story to tell of that “bright brand new day” John is so fond of singing about. He left here knowing that if he did nothing about making it happen, then perhaps nothing would be done. His name towers above all others and he still is to be found in the company of the “neighbours weans” from his childhood years. International and local in equal measure, I hope his name, his vision, his values and his vindication will long inspire the generations growing up in today’s prosperous, globalised, successful and confident Ireland. They don’t just stand in his building, they stand on his shoulders. Fear den schoth, ab ea John Hume laochra mór an 20ú aois. Tá an leanbh siochána a ghin John folláin agus is gaisce mór é sin.
Go maire sibh. Go raibh maith agaibh.