Remarks at the Presentation of Awards to the Undergraduates of the Year
9th November 2012
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am delighted to be here today at the presentation of awards to the undergraduates of the year. I would like to thank Louise Hodgson for her invitation to present these awards and all of you for that very kind welcome.
When I was inaugurated, a year ago, as President of Ireland I spoke of the importance of citizens of all ages making their own imaginative and practical contributions to our shared future. Today we celebrate the work of some of those citizens, citizens of this and other countries, who have undertaken the task of rethinking, re-imagining and re-considering the way we live, the way our societies and institutions operate and how we define and prioritise our values in the lives we share together.
Anseo in Éirinn, agus go deimhin, ar fud an domhain, táimid ag maireachtáil i dtréimhse ina bhfuil athrú ollmhór ag tarlú. Seo tráth agus deis lenár gcruthaíocht a thástáil, le dul ar iontaobh ár mbuanna agus scileanna, le bheith seiftiúil agus muid ag cur tús le caibidil nua a éilíonn smaointe nua, machnamh nua agus coinceapa nua. Tráth é freisin le filleadh ar cheistiú a dhéanamh ar dhosheachantachtaí, mar a bhraitear, sa chaoi a mhairimid; ar an staus quo a cheistiú agus teacht ar aghaidh le réitigh nua ar sheanfhadhbanna.
[Here in Ireland, and indeed across the globe, we are moving through a period of immense change. It is a time and an opportunity to test our creativity, to draw on our talents and skills, to be resourceful as we open a new chapter which demands new ideas, new thinking and new concepts. It is also a time to return to questioning the perceived inevitabilities by which we live; for querying the status quo and coming up with new solutions to old problems.]
The late philosopher and intellectual, Tony Judt once said that ‘the thrall in which an ideology holds a people is best measured by their inability to imagine alternatives’.
By failing to question received versions of our contemporary world we fall into a habit of thinking uncritically, of assuming ‘that’s always the way it’s been done’ is a valid explanation for maintaining the status quo, or of being part of a cohort that stifles progress, innovation and new thought.
It can, of course, take courage to refuse to slip into cultural or behavioural dimensions of thinking; to not take the easy option of blindly accepting the status quo. It can take great effort and imagination to reject the shortest route of thinking; the straightforward pathway that fails to take into account unexpected obstacles or to explore the gems of thought that often lie hidden down the more complicated and less well lit side roads of the mind. It can also take audacity and strength of mind to stand up to the authoritarian and paternalistic controls that can so often hinder progress and stand in the way of creative thinking.
Today in Ireland we are working to close the chapter on that which has failed, that which was not the best version of ourselves as a people, and open a new chapter based on a different version of our Irishness. It is a time when we have been required, and will continue to be required, to alter our political thinking, our view of the public world, our institutions, and, most difficult of all, our consciousness.
As we work to transform our society we must accept the necessity and power of creative thinking; of moving past the assumptions which have failed us and working together for such a different set of values as will enable us to build a sustainable social economy and a society which is profoundly ethical and inclusive.
We must also recognise that there can be no place, in a truly active, inclusive citizenship for selfish individualism or an unquestioning acceptance of totalitarian ideologies. As we strive to move on from the fragmentation, alienation and disillusionment that has been visited upon so much of our global society, we must begin the task of rethinking all aspects of our lives; the way we wish to live and interact with others; the way our society operates; the way we define what is valuable in our personal lives and above all, what is valuable in the lives we share together. This is a time when we need emancipatory thinkers; people unafraid to question the kind of world we inhabit and the kind of shared future we wish to craft, and to seek new dynamic answers to those questions. It is a time to aspire towards a fully conscious and critical life; a time to be the arrow and not the target. If we are to reject ideologies, seek truth from fact and produce alternative solutions and actions as we look to the future, we must liberate our minds and live fully conscious lives where we constantly question the inevitabilities that are suggested to us.
Today, at the Undergraduate Awards, we celebrate that original and emancipatory thinking. I know that this year, 2,890 submissions were received from 92 third level institutions both in Ireland, and from overseas for these prestigious awards. I am informed that fourteen countries are now engaged in this initiative and indeed submissions have been received from no less than sixty four different nationalities.
Is ábhar misnigh dúinn go gcuireann na haghneachtaí uile a bhfuil aitheantas á thabhairt dóibh anseo inniu i gcuimhne dúinn an mhaoin mhór de bhuanna nuálacha agus samhlaíocha atá sna daoine óga seo againne – ceannairí, lucht déanta beartas, eolaithe agus ealaíontóirí na todhchaí.
[All of the submissions being recognised here today are a reassuring reminder of the great wealth of innovative and imaginative talent that exists amongst our young people – the leaders, policy makers, scientists and artists of the future.]
The range of topics covered is deeply impressive, extending across twenty categories and a wide cross section of issues and concerns. Some of these submissions pave the way for future investigative work that could lead to important medical advances; as for instance the research that has been undertaken into the viability of running an integrative analysis of morpho-molecular data in order that we can understand and characterize the underlying genetic pathways that drive cancer growth. Others explore the philosophical dimension of our society and show the importance of opening up our minds and using new logic to seek the truth from facts as we craft our shared future. One fine example of this was the excellently researched submission on the complex subject of faultless disagreement which challenged the concept of relativising the truth of certain statements to individual speaker’s perspectives or tastes.
Others look at specific challenges we must face as we seek to achieve a fairer, more ethical and more inclusive society. There are many ‘forgotten people’ in our contemporary world, as we are reminded by the title of one submission which looks at the problems faced by voluntary patients within the mental health system, those forgotten people who are not protected by the statutory safeguards which oversee the rights of involuntary patients.
These and all of the impressive submissions being honoured here today demonstrate the capacity to imagine and realise a better world; all of them remind us of the inspiring phrase by Raymond Williams that ‘Once the inevitabilities are challenged, we have begun to gather our resources for a journey of hope’
I would like to conclude by congratulating all those involved in The Undergraduate Awards . I am very proud to be Patron of this wonderful initiative which is, of course, the brainchild of Oisin Hanrahan and Paddy Cosgrove, who deserve particular praise not only for setting up these Awards but also for actively encouraging and nurturing original ideas among our bright young academics. I must also acknowledge both Jim Barry and Aine Maria Mizzoni in their capacity as Chair and Vice-Chair and founding directors of the awards.
Finally I would like to congratulate all of our awardees here today and wish them every success in the future; a future where they can offer so much as we work to achieve truly democratic citizenships operating within just economies and with active participants in civil societies.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir