Speech at An Cosán
16th December 2013
I am delighted to be here today in An Cosán, a place I first visited during my Presidential campaign and a place that impressed me so deeply that I resolved to return as President of Ireland. I would like to thank Elizabeth Waters for enabling me to fulfil that resolution and all of you for that very enthusiastic welcome.
Last week I had the great privilege of speaking on behalf of Ireland and Europe at an event to mark the legacy of the late Nelson Mandela. I spoke at that time of how Madiba, and his life’s work, could help us all to understand the importance of realising our unrealised possibilities. It is a theme on which I often reflect and one which, I believe, lies at the heart of any truly democratic society
Is mé i mbun feachtais le haghaidh na hUachtaránachta, chuir me i bhfios go láidir gur mhian liom go mbeadh foireann luachanna i bpáirt ag muintir na hÉireann a chuirfeadh ar ár gcumas sochaí a thabhairt ar an bhfód a bheadh eiticiúil agus cuimsitheach go smior. Cárbh fhearr tosach a dhéanamh ná lenár gcóras oideachais.
[In my campaign for the Presidency, I emphasised my desire for the people of Ireland to share a set of values that enables us to build a society which is, at its core, both ethical and inclusive. Where better to start than with our education system.]
I am acutely aware of the benefits that education can provide in a personal sense of fulfillment. The application of the benefits of education have, of course, an impact that is wider than the person who receives them. The values instilled and released in students by our education system, are carried forward into society through our occupations, our role in the wider community and influences the way in which we harness and use our gifts, talents, intelligence and wisdom for the benefit of society.
Here in Ireland, we pride ourselves on a well educated workforce, on the fact that the majority of our students now remain in secondary education until they have completed their Leaving Certificate, that so many proceed to a third level education, and on the lifelong learning opportunities that are now so widely available and so embedded in our educational culture.
We have come a long way from the days when secondary education was a privilege and further education the preserve of the wealthy and the elite. While much has been achieved, unfortunately there remain parts of our society for whom accessing and successfully completing a secondary or higher education can be very, very difficult indeed.
The barriers are many – including cost, cultural norms, family circumstances, language difficulties, special needs and early parenthood. For some of our citizens, the normal pathways through education and into employment, which are taken for granted by so many, remain inaccessible and remote despite the advancements made in recent years.
This year two reports by the Department of Education which shone a light into our education system gave some cause for concern, some reasons to reflect on the society we wish to craft together and on how that society can truly provide all of its citizens with a voice and the opportunity to realise all of their possibilities.
In those reports we read that approximately four and a half thousand children exit our education system between first year and transition year, and that an estimated one thousand children a year do not even make the progression from primary to secondary education.
Here in Tallaght, An Cosán’s own figures present us with further sobering news. Up to 2.6% of West Tallaght residents have received no formal education; 16.6% finished their education at lower secondary level and just 5% of citizens in this part of Dublin have completed an honours degree.
These are worrying statistics – statistics behind which lie many difficult stories of disadvantage and exclusion; stories of potential unrealised, ambitions unachieved, talents unused and communities diminished by an inability to utilise the skills, the promise and the intellect of so many of their members. The knowledge that a parent’s education can contribute significantly to the educational success of the next generation, provides an even deeper dimension to this troubling picture.
There can be no doubt that if we are to craft a society defined by inclusion and justice we must work together to make the journey through the educational landscape less arduous – removing barriers and providing new opportunities for those who have been let down by our formal education system.
I am, therefore, very pleased to be here in An Cosán today, a centre whose name literally translates as The Pathway. An Cosán is, indeed, a centre that has helped many, many people to find their way out of the darkness of educational disadvantage and into a future bright with hope and possibility.
The stated mission of An Cosán is:
‘To use the power of Transformative Education through Learning, Leadership and Enterprise to end the injustice of poverty wherever we find it’
It is a mission that has borne much fruit since the centre first opened its doors in 1999, the result of a desire for social change envisioned by the inspiring Dr. Ann Louise Gilligan and Senator Katherine Zappone. It was a vision that brought them together with the local community here in a spirit of solidarity and determination which soon lead to the foundation of An Cosán.
I understand that six hundred members of the local community now benefit every year from a wide range and level of courses offered by An Cosán. That is an impressive figure and one which reminds us of the many lives that have been transformed over the years by this impressive facility.
If I have spoken earlier of the dispiriting narrative that lies behind the troubling statistics of early departure from formal education, we must also remember the many heartening and uplifting stories that are written here in An Cosán, and in other facilities around the country that reach out to those who are disadvantaged or deprived, enabling them to turn new corners, find better pathways, and emerge from the shadows of exclusion into futures of new possibilities and fulfilled potential.
So today, I congratulate all those who have been involved with An Cosán during the last twenty four years. I commend those of you, both staff and volunteers, who have given of your time and skills to ensure the success of this facility; and the implementation of a vision of the transformative power of education that lies at the heart of An Cosán.
I also applaud the many, many people who have had the courage to take those first difficult steps down the pathway to change. While there are many for whom the world of education is a clear and straightforward road, there are some for whom it is a course strewn with obstacles, difficult to navigate and frighteningly unfamiliar. I imagine that, for many of those who have attended courses here, their schooldays may not be a time that they remember with great happiness or fondness. I am aware of the great courage it must have required to walk through these doors for the first time in order to take those first tentative steps on the road to a better future. For others, there were many practical difficulties to surmount and many personal sacrifices to be made in order to find the time and space to study, learn and grow.
That fact that those great reserves of courage, determination and resolve have continued to be found year after year by members of the West Tallaght community is inspiring and humbling. I congratulate all of those determined people who have come here in search of a better future and have found a voice and a confidence that has allowed them to play a part in crafting that future for themselves, their children, their community and indeed wider society.
I wish you, and all those who participate here in An Cosán, every success as you continue with your transformational work, and thank you for welcoming me here so warmly today.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.