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ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, MARY ROBINSON, FOR THE OPENING OF THE INTERVARSITY CONFERENCE OF THE SVP

ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, MARY ROBINSON, FOR THE OPENING OF THE INTERVARSITY CONFERENCE OF THE ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY

It gives me great pleasure to be here this morning to officially open the Intervarsity Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in this special year for the organisation in Ireland.

The Society was founded in 1833 in Paris by Frederic Ozanam and a group of university students and the first conference in Ireland, St. Michan's, was established 150 years ago in 1844, in Halston Street parish in Dublin's inner city.

Since then, the Society has developed into Ireland's largest voluntary organisation of social concern with over 1,000 Conferences throughout the island and some 11,000 members. 

During this period the Society itself has developed into a modern, pro-active organisation, implementing strategies which at once alleviate economic and social suffering and maintain the dignity of those that are assisted.  In response to the complexity of contemporary social problems, the Society has developed a training programme designed to improve the practical skills of its members to make their service more effective in the community.

The practice of meeting people in their own home, central to the Society's modus operandi, ensures that consultation takes place in a comfortable, confidential environment.  Furthermore the unique one-to-one contact that this practice fosters means that the Society, through its 11,000 membership, has access to invaluable information about the needs of the underprivileged and is able to draw upon this information in offering advice on strategies to help people in need.

Home visitation to families affected by unemployment or other forms of distress and to the elderly remains a central feature of the Society's work, together with a range of housing services to assist the homeless, short and long-term.  The Holiday Programme has been providing holidays for children for many years now;  we are all familiar with Sunshine House in Balbriggan where 2,300 children enjoyed a vacation by the sea in 1993.  The introduction of a "Teenhols" programme was an imaginative development, introducing 13-15 year old city children to the countryside at an Outdoor Education Centre.

Young people are further catered for by the Society's 21 Youth Clubs, primarily situated in disadvantaged urban areas, where leisure activities and personal advice and support are available.  A network of 92 "Good-as-New" shops provide clothing and furniture at minimal cost in the areas where they are located.

As a caring organisation, the overall aim of the Society is to help overcome suffering amongst the disadvantaged members of our community.  In achieving this aim, the role of the Society has expanded in recent years.  Two initiatives, the funding of which have been supported by the Department of Social Welfare, include the Home Management/Personal Development Programme and a Job Creation/Job Finding Service.  The Society is also deeply involved in efforts to combat the problems of moneylending and collaborates closely with the projects funded by the Department of Social Welfare in that regard.

I know that the Society regards the Home Management/Personal

Development Programme as its most effective strategy in assisting low-income households.  Over 8,000 participants have benefited from this programme since its inception in 1989.  The Job Creation scheme, also introduced in 1989, has helped over 1,100 people to set up their own business, an achievement of which you can be justly proud.

As I said at the outset, 1994 is a very special year for the

St. Vincent de Paul Society in Ireland.  It is particularly heartening, given the origins of the Society, to see students from all over Ireland come together in this forum to discuss social issues of particular concern such as poverty and homelessness.  May I wish you every success in this conference and in your future work.