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ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE KILLYMARD RESIDENTIAL UNIT FOR ADULTS DONEGAL TOWN

ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE KILLYMARD RESIDENTIAL UNIT FOR ADULTS DONEGAL TOWN ON SATURDAY, 18 APRIL 1998

I want to thank you all for the very warm welcome you have given me this afternoon, and to say how delighted I am to have been given the opportunity to visit Killymard - to see this new facility. It is a great tribute to the South West Donegal branch of the Parents and Friends of Mentally Handicapped Persons - who saw a real need and set about finding a solution.

As is the case in all situations like this, solving the problem involves linking up with others who share the problem and those who can provide the solution – and drawing them together in a partnership. Indeed, this ‘partnership’ approach to solving local needs has achieved great success in many communities - in the cities, towns and villages in Ireland. In Killymard, you have very successfully applied this approach in the provision of a site by the parish – advice and assistance from the North Western Health Board - the plans being drawn up by Seamus O’Callaghan - the labour being provided by FÁS under the foremanship of Eamonn Cassidy – the funding supplied by yourselves, by the North Western Health Board, the National Lottery and the Communications Workers Union - and you even managed to get advice from a Safety Officer from the UK who had the misfortune to be holidaying in the area at the wrong time! That’s real partnership at work! It is also part of the unselfish yet entrepreneurial imaginates which lies at the heart of it.

It is important that people and communities come together to form self-help partnerships such as yours. It is a vital step in the re-vitalisation of the community – in harnessing the energy and talents of people who know their own area and who have a vested interest in addressing their own problems. Communities – both urban and rural – are constantly having to face change – to overcome new hurdles and obstacles in a changing world. Throughout Ireland there is a great movement towards partnership – a tremendous realisation that the solution to local problems lies in the locality – that the communities themselves know best what they want and how they can get it. They know too of the strength in joining and linking with others in similar situations to work towards common goals – to share common ideals – to pool resources. They have seen the value in linking up with State and local authorities.

 

The Killymard Centre is another example of what local people can do – of how determination and commitment born out of the clear perception of a need in the community, can have such a great impact in such a short time. The pace of change today means that communities and community-based groups need to have the capacity to respond to new demands and new situations if they are to keep up. Today especially, change is the only real constant – and the ease with which people can meet that change is the measure of their success. I want to give recognition to the great work that you have done in the short time since you started – to commend you on meeting a need in the region.

Finally I would like to wish those who use the Centre – the adults who are fortunate to have the sheltered accommodation here and those who can avail of the respite places – to wish you and the staff and supporters of the centre, every success for the future. I hope that you will get much benefit from the facilities for many years to come.