ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT AT THE OPENING OF THE CORI’s TENTH ANNUAL SOCIAL POLICY CONFERENCE
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE CORI’s TENTH ANNUAL SOCIAL POLICY CONFERENCE ON TUESDAY 24 MARCH 1998
Firstly, let me say how delighted I am to be with you this morning at the opening of the tenth Annual Conference organised by the Conference of Religious of Ireland. Indeed, the period since the first conference has seen profound changes in Ireland – in its economy and its society – in its outlook and in its direction. During that period, CORI has provided a forum in which to examine the impact of those profound changes on the lives and livelihoods of ordinary people and ordinary communities. It has been at the forefront of radical thinking and policy formulation in the design and delivery of social services in Ireland. Its independent status, coupled with its access to a body of great expertise, has made it a force to be taken seriously into account.
The theme of this year’s conference, “Progress and Polarisation”, reflects the growing concern about the impact of our economic progress on those who have and on those who want – the growing gap between the rich and the poor – the marginalisation and exclusion of those who, for one reason or another, are unable to stay with the race, or who have even failed to get out of the traps! As we approach a new millennium there is much deliberation about new structures in Ireland and in Europe – it is at a time when we have a young, educated, eager and self-confident population who know that they can achieve what they want, and who are prepared – even impatient – to take on the biggest and the best, in the full knowledge that they are at least as good if not better than most. But that culture of prosperity and enterprise has its corollary in the areas where education has not been readily available – where unemployment has ravaged family and community – where people have a sense that the prosperity that we hear about daily, is passing them by and excluding them from mainstream society.
Yet, in recent weeks, I have visited communities in Dublin that have taken the initiative - have joined in partnerships with official and voluntary bodies – and are having an impact on their own destiny. Just last night, for instance, I attended the presentation of the Inner City Enterpirse Award organised by Inner City Enterprise and the Inner City Partnership. That event, to me, was significant in that it showed how partnerships both at national and local levels can make a huge difference. Indeed, the last decade has seen how successful partnerships at national level can have such a positive impact – the social partnerships between the unions, the employers, farmers and the Government, that have been the foundation of the great success that we are currently enjoying. The more recent development of local, area-based partnerships, have had a tremendous impact on the communities in which they operate – in opening up opportunities – in encouraging people to work for their own communities – in bringing people in from the margins. Indeed, this unique approach has become a model for others to follow.
Of course, all these developments mean that there is a constant need to pull back, or stand aside, and reflect on the structures and mechanisms of our social services and our economic development – at the way we formulate policies – at who we are excluding or including. It is important that we have a mechanism or forum to reflect on where we are going - on what we are doing in education to provide wider access and greater opportunity to everybody – on the plight of our children in a society which sees new definitions of family and domestic structures – on the spread of wealth and resources between the rich and the poor – on the whole apparatus for formulating and delivering a social system that meets the new needs of today and halts the trends towards polarisation, marginalisation and exclusion.
The conferences organised by CORI over the years have provided a type of ‘neutral territory’ where professionals and practitioners from different, and at times compartmentalised, disciplines can come together to explore common ground – where the interconnectedness of the professions can be explored – where ideas, proposals and opinions can be tested – and where bridges can be constructed between the various sectors and interests.
The papers at this year’s conference cover the questions that are uppermost in all our minds at this time – shifts in income distribution, housing policies, the status and rights of children and the model for delivering social services into the next millenium. All of them give us much food for thought. In declaring the Conference open, I would like to commend CORI on their invaluable contribution to Irish social and economic thinking. I would like to wish everybody well in their work and deliberations over the course of the Conference.
ENDS