REMARKS FOR PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE ROSLYN PARK COLLEGE GRADUATION
REMARKS FOR PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE ROSLYN PARK COLLEGE GRADUATION ON FRIDAY 4TH DECEMBER, 1998
I am delighted to be with you today on this special occasion – graduation day at Roslyn Park College – a place in its own grounds in the ‘disability friendly’ seaside suburb of Sandymount – and the only one of its kind in Ireland - catering for students from all over the country and of all ages - from 16 to 60.
Today is your day – a day when you celebrate your personal achievements with your teachers, your families and your friends – and I am particularly grateful to the Director of the College for giving me this opportunity to join you for part of your celebration.
While this is my first visit as President to Roslyn Park, it is not my first time to be here. In another life I came here on a number of occasions, in the context of facilitating deaf entry to third level – an area in which Roslyn Park has excelled.
Indeed all courses and training methods are constantly reviewed by Roslyn Park College to ensure absolute quality – and this quality is evidenced by the range of national and international certifying bodies who are proud to award certification to the Colleges’ graduates - and by the successes that these graduates have individually and collectively enjoyed in national and international competition.
Today is a day that in a way marks the culmination of a process whereby you have explored and honed your own talents – where you have acquired new levels of competence and skill – whether in Business Studies, Foundation Studies, Technical Studies or Professional Cookery – and where you have empowered yourselves to go on to meet new challenges and opportunities in further education or in careers. It is also a day when you make a new beginning – when you take that next step on the road to a more fulfilled life through greater engagement and participation in the life of your community and in society.
I have said on many occasions since my inauguration that the foundation on which Ireland’s current success was built was put in several decades ago when people of vision and courage decided to invest in education – to provide the infrastructure and open up access to generations which, as Seamus Heaney put it “that might have dozed a life away against the flanks of milking cows”.
In his poem, “From the Canton of Expectation”, Seamus talks of the new ‘culture’ of education - of those with “intelligences brightened and unmannerly as crowbars”, with “Books open in the newly wired kitchens . . . paving and pencilling their first causeways across the prescribed texts”. Those were the liberated who were given access to education – who could finally attain the skills and learning to break out of an existence that looked in on itself.
The real test of our success is in how far we go to include everybody in society – to provide a place for everyone to acquire confidence and to blossom – and to give them the opportunities to make their own contribution. A society that does not give everybody their chance is impoverished by the absence of their unique contribution – and is not operating on all cylinders. Those who come to Roslyn Park are availing of the opportunity given to them – using their God given talents in the productive and self-fulfilling way that they were intended.
For some I know it takes great courage to make that initial step – and I commend their spirit in making the big commitment that it entails. For all of you it has been an enriching experience – and I have no doubt that your hard work will be rewarded handsomely in the years ahead. To those family and friends that have supported you during your time at Roslyn Park, I want to give special recognition for being there when you were needed – and for the sacrifices you have made and for the patience you have shown. Very often, the help and support that we receive from our family and friends goes unsung and unrecognised.
Of course, it would have been almost impossible to achieve what you have if it were not for the existence of Roslyn Park College and the dedicated management and staff who give you guidance and encouragement in your work. I would like to pay tribute to the Director and his staff for all that they have done – the trainers, facilitators, teachers, psychologists, counsellors, training and rehabilitation officers, transport and accommodation staff, supervisors, managers and administrative personnel. You have enriched the lives of many, and have opened up new and exciting horizons.
Roslyn Park is part of the National Training and Development Institute, which operates a network of over 46 training locations nation-wide, delivering training services to 2,200 people with disabilities annually. The NTDI is itself a subsidiary of the Rehab Group – or the Rehabilitation Institute as it was formerly known – which has been offering vocational training to people with all types of disabilities for almost fifty years.
By coming here today, I want also to recognise the tremendous work that has been done over that time – and to pay tribute to the Rehab Group for their ability to meet the ever changing needs and requirements of people with disabilities in a world that constantly makes new demands. It is that ability to change that is at the core of your success, and which will ensure that you will continue to operate effectively in the decades ahead.
In thanking you again for giving me this opportunity to be with you this afternoon, I want to wish all of you well in whatever direction you have chosen to go. You have achieved much since you started at Roslyn Park and are examples for others to follow and emulate.
ENDS