Speech to Mark Cliffoney National School’s Centenary
Cliffoney, Co. Sligo, 22nd October 2014
A Easpaig Doran [Bishop Doran],
A Dhaoine Uaisle,
A dhaltaí,
Is mian liom buíochas a ghabháil libh as ucht an chuiridh a bheith anseo inniu agus as ucht na fíorchaoin fáilte a d’fhear sibh romham.
I am delighted to be here with you all to mark Cliffoney National School’s hundredth birthday. I wish to thank Principal Ita MacGowan for so kindly inviting me to join in these celebrations of what is an important milestone in the history of your school and in the life of the wider community. May I also thank the musicians and pupils for a great performance, and all of you for the warm Sligo welcome I have received here in Cliffoney.
It is for me a great pleasure to be visiting this beautiful part of the country, whose landscape is saturated with stories and history – events from both our distant and more recent past; echoes from the stupendous deeds of the great Irish mythical heroes.
From the rear of the school, the pupils enjoy a beautiful view of Benwisken and Benbulben, the latter of course with its reputation of having been one of the hunting grounds of the Fianna, led by the formidable Fionn Mac Cumhaill. The area is also associated with the names of Gráinne and Diarmuid, whose transgressive love led them to live in the wild so as to escape Fionn Mac Cumhaill’s vengeful wrath.
The fact that such stories have captured the imagination of successive generations of pupils at Cliffoney National School is understandable. They also captured the mind of W.B. Yeats in 1901, when, in collaboration with George Moore he wrote his play in poetic prose entitled Diarmuid and Grania, based on a translation by Lady Gregory of the ancient Fiannaíocht saga The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne.
The area of the Dartry mountains, of course, is sometimes called “Yeats country” – and it is a great legacy, not only to the pupils of this school, but to the entire local community, to share a landscape so richly populated with literature and myth. Indeed our ancient myths and stories, with all their extra-ordinary dimensions, are a healthy invitation to our children to push out the boundaries, explore new ground, imagine the impossible.
Such historical, even mythical, depth only enhances the attraction of the stunning natural environment you enjoy in Cliffoney – the sea, cliffs and beaches on one side; the mountains and lakes on the other. I have no doubt that the field trips organised by this school give children plenty of opportunity to explore with both their body and mind their beautiful surroundings and the rich local history.
Your school crest, designed by the school children, brings together these various elements of nature and culture. Benwisken is represented on it, as well as three shrubs on the bottom left, that make reference to the etymology of Cliffoney – Cliath Mhuine in Irish, i.e. “the shrubbery”.
Featured on the crest’s right hand side, the Creevykeel Court Cairn, as one of the finest examples of a full-court in Ireland, reminds us of the Neolithic period and the stone age people, of which so little is known but so much can be imagined.
At the top left corner, Classiebawn Castle – built as a country house for Henry Temple, Viscount Palmerston, on what was then a 10,000 acre estate on the Mullaghmore peninsula – recalls for us a tragic period in Irish history: that of the Great Famine and its subsequent wave of emigration. The Temples, like most absentee landlords, left it to their land agents to oversee the “assisted emigration” that took place on the Palmerston and adjacent Gore-Booth estates, with devastating consequences for the local demography and social fabric.
Classiebawn Castle is also associated, as you know well, with Lord Louis Mountbatten, who spent many summers there, before his assassination by the IRA in 1979. During our visit to the UK, last May, my wife Sabina and I paid our respects to the memory of Lord Mountbatten, pausing to reflect at a plaque dedicated to him inside Westminster Abbey.
Today Cliffoney National School has sixty pupils and it fulfils its educational mission in an Ireland that is very different from the one that existed when the school opened its doors, a hundred years ago. Back in 1914, there were fireplaces in each classroom, and I believe that each family took it in turns to leave a cart of turf for the fires.
What has not changed, I trust, is the local children’s “thirst for education,” as it was described by Lord Palmerston in a letter he sent his sister in 1808. Back then, children were taught reading, writing and arithmetic – and also, to the estate master’s great amazement, Latin and Greek.
Today, although Latin and Greek have, sadly I believe, often been dropped, Ireland is a society with expanded educational opportunities. The vast majority of pupils remain in school until they have completed their Leaving Certificate. The number of students accessing and completing a higher education has also increased significantly in recent decades: within the European Union, Ireland now has the largest cohort of young people under the age of 25 with a third level qualification.
I know that the quality of teaching delivered here at Cliffoney National School has played and continues to play a crucial role in ensuring that all the children acquire the skills they need, not just to pursue further education, but also to engage with creativity and joy with the world around them – engage with life with confidence and in solidarity with their fellow citizens.
Their confidence is one that is rooted in the values which this school nurtures, and the skills and knowledge with which it equips children. It is also fostered by the many activities in which pupils are involved, such as dancing, music, drama, singing, rugby, athletics, and, of course, GAA – a field in which, I know, your pupils have a strong record!
This school is integral to the spirit of community that exists here in Cliffoney. My wish for the pupils who are here today is that, like the generations who have gone here before you, you will look back on your days in Cliffoney National School with gratitude and affection – that you will fondly remember the friendships, the support and the security that came with knowing you were part of this community. Wherever you may find yourselves in the world in future years, may you always remain connected in a profound way to the people with whom you share this day; the people who have played such a significant part in your formative years.
May I also very sincerely thank and congratulate the teachers and the school staff who are so dedicated to providing what is the best of gifts to our children – a good education. I wish you well with these celebrations of Cliffoney National School’s centenary, and I wish each and every pupil here today every success and happiness in the future.
Mar chríoch, ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil libh, uair amháin eile, as an bhfáilte mhór a chuir sibh romham anseo inniu. Ba mhaith liom gach rath a ghuí ar na páistí i gcaitheamh a laethanta scoile agus tá mé cinnte go bhfaighidh siad timpeallacht anseo a thabharfaidh an deis dóibh iad féin a fhorbairt feadh a n-acmhainn agus a theacht faoi bhláth laistigh dá bpobail agus dá sochaí féin amach anseo.
[I would like to conclude by thanking you, once again, for the great welcome you have extended to me here today. I would like to wish all of the pupils here every success throughout their schooldays and I am confident that they will find here an environment that will allow them to reach their potential and to flourish within their communities and their society in future days.]
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.