The Brother Jerome Lecture delivered by the Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, T.D.,
at the Presentation Brothers School, Cork on Friday, 23 November, 2007 at 5.30pm
I am delighted to have been asked to deliver the Brother Jerome Lecture. The late Brother Jerome Kelly made an enormously positive contribution to Cork City, both as Principal of this school and as one of the founders of SHARE. He was a very unassuming person but made a great impression on me when we met and discussed the Sheare's Street Centre a number of years back. It is a privilege to have been asked to deliver the lecture which has been named in his honour.
Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine - so goes a wonderful Irish proverb. It translates as - we live within each others' shelter. This captures so well our relationship with other people - whether they are in our homes, on our roads, in our communities or in our country. It is a saying that is as relevant in today's Ireland as it was when it was first coined.
Brother Jerome would no doubt have identified with this proverb. He had a highly developed sense of community and he acted on it.
It is many years now since a group of 12 students from Presentation College, inspired by Brother Jerome, put up a makeshift crib on St. Patrick Street and fasted for thirty hours to draw attention to the plight of the elderly in this city. Today, hundreds of students, boys and girls, from secondary schools all around Cork fund-raise for SHARE and support Cork's elderly with over 200 houses, as well as a Day Care Centre.
None of this would have happened without the pioneering spirit, activism and leadership skills of Brother Jerome. He was, truly, a man who was ahead of his time. I think it is particularly appropriate that the Day Care Centre is named after him. Loneliness is itself a form of poverty and the Brother Jerome Kelly Day Care Centre and the social activities which the students organise around it do so much to alleviate this. Together, they bring a lot of joy to residents and visitors, which is a very fitting memorial to his life and work.
Brother Jerome was a model of the active citizen and the SHARE project is a model of active citizenship. As many of you will know, this is a topic which is very close to my heart.
Last year, I set up a Taskforce, chaired by Mary Davis of Special Olympics Ireland, to establish what active citizenship means to people in the changed Ireland of today. The Taskforce produced some interesting findings. It found, encouragingly, that there is no clear evidence that people are less involved than before. In fact, a survey commissioned by the Taskforce showed an apparent increase in both volunteering and community involvement in recent times. This does not surprise me. Going around the country and meeting people, I see for myself the huge amount of community and voluntary activity that is being carried on, day in, day out. And we have shown that, as a nation, we have a formidable capacity for rising to the big occasion. Just think of the way we have responded to international disasters. And think of all the hard work that went into making the Special Olympics such a success.
We should never be shy to acknowledge all the good work that is carried on in this country and all the good people behind it - both volunteers and "the volunteered"! We have a great many unsung heroes, male and female, young and old, in our midst; and our society is all the better for them. And we undoubtedly have in place a strong framework for the practice of active citizenship. We have at our disposal all our educational institutions, not least schools like Presentation Brothers Cork.
Then there is the huge range of community and voluntary organisations like sports clubs, youth clubs affiliated to the National Youth Council or Foroige, Threshold, the GAA, St. Vincent de Paul, Simon, CORI, Concern, GOAL and of course, SHARE - I could go on but we would be here all night!
Religious organisations and Churches, of course, continue to play an important role in terms of social support and direct service delivery, and, like schools, in promoting the basic values which underpin any society. There is also our system of social partnership, which allows the employer, trade union, farming and community and voluntary sectors to play their part in our economic and social development. And then there is the whole political process at local, national, EU and international level. All in all, it is estimated that there are 20,000 organisations and groups in the broad community and voluntary sector in the State, from parish - based groups to political parties. The opportunities for involvement are there, we just have to use them.
There is undoubtedly a lot to be positive about in terms of the level of active citizenship in Ireland today. At the same time, our Taskforce on Active Citizenship found that for every adult involved in the community, there are at least two others who are not involved in some form of civic activity. That represents a lot of untapped potential. The report also identified a sense of unease about how changes in the economy and society will impact on voluntary activity and our sense of community in the years ahead.
Overall, Mary Davis and her Taskforce identified a need for more co-ordination, more information - sharing, more education, more encouragement and increased capacity building if we are to sustain and increase the level of active citizenship.
The Government has accepted the Taskforce's recommendations and has set up a dedicated Active Citizenship Office to help press ahead with this agenda. We have reflected the concept of active citizenship in a number of initiatives in our new Programme for Government; and we have provided significant funding to back the Taskforce recommendations, including for the development of community facilities and support for community organisations. But we can not increase the level of active citizenship on our own. We need more people like you here in this hall this evening to carry the torch of active citizenship in Ireland.
Of course, not everybody can participate in local life. And for all kinds of good reasons. For example, many people have very little time to integrate with their neighbourhoods: they leave home early and arrive back late. But there are still a lot of people out there who could make a contribution to their local community. And even if you can not contribute to your immediate neighbourhood, you can still contribute to community life. You can contribute to the life of the community in which you work rather than live - an increasing number of businesses actively engage with the local community. It is possible to contribute to a community thousands of miles away.
Think of the 1350 volunteers who, earlier this month, built 200 homes in a week at Freedom Park, Cape Town, as part of the ongoing work of the Niall Mellon Township Trust. You can even create a new community. Here in Cork City, SHARE is a very good example of this, with a group of secondary students creating a new community encompassing Blackpool, Shandon Street, Douglas Street, Sheare's Street, Grattan Street, Blarney Street and Sunday's Well. And all this is to say nothing about the "virtual communities" which can develop around shared interests, using websites and e-mail. As an example, the Internet is becoming an increasingly important feature in elections and politics and helps people campaign effectively on local, national and international issues.
Active citizenship can take many forms. It can mean caring for a family member or looking out for a neighbour. It can take the form of joining a residents association, lobby group or political party. It can mean helping out in a local sports club or a community development project. It can mean taking an active interest in local, national and international issues. It can mean helping to keep a town tidy. It can mean making an effort to recycle. There is no shortage of ways of making a difference, for the better. Ultimately, active citizenship is about being aware of your neighbourhood, community, country and the wider world, identifying problems and, critically, seeking to become part of the solution and change things for the better.
As I am sure you will all know, active citizenship can be hard work, especially after a day of hard work. But as I think Brother Jerome would have agreed, it is character building. And it brings its own rewards. Making a difference can be very satisfying and empowering. We are naturally motivated to achieve things in life. It can be also very refreshing to turn our minds to something different. It can take us out of ourselves and our own problems and put things in perspective. We can meet new people, make new friends and learn more about the world about us. We can also learn new skills which may help us in our working lives. And at the end of the day, human beings are social beings: we like to engage with each other.
There is, of course, nothing wrong about enjoying yourself or just taking time out to rest and relax. And I know that people work long and hard and are fully entitled to enjoy the fruits of their labours. But you can also enjoy yourself by engaging with the issues of the day, at local, community or national level, or more widely. I would not be in politics if I did not enjoy it.
The practice of active citizenship is, ultimately, not simply a local or community issue. It is a matter of national importance. Ireland is more than a collection of individuals occupying a piece of real estate. It is a society, based on the core values of participation, democracy, liberty, equality and social solidarity. This country did not come about by chance. It was dreamed of, fought for, built up and opened up to the world. And it has to be worked at. If we want to maintain what we have, what many people might take for granted, we - all of us - have to practice civic virtue, to the best of our abilities.
The fact that Ireland today includes so many people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds is very welcome but if anything, it reinforces the need to work together at what we have in common.
I hope I have got across how strongly I believe in the critical importance of active citizenship and voluntary effort to our society. I should, of course, add that the Government is fully aware of its role and responsibilities. There is no question, for example, of leaving the provision of community services and social protection to the voluntary sector. The Government has a key role to play and we are committed to playing it.
To take the example of homelessness, we are committed to tackling this issue in all its forms and Minister Batt O'Keeffe has particular responsibility for this area. Overall, the Government has provided for spending of €52 million this year on accommodation and related services via the local authorities - a dramatic increase on the 1994 allocation of €1.73 million. This is in addition to funding for care costs provided by the HSE and capital funding provided by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
Our objective is that, by the end of 2010, no homeless person will spend longer than six months in emergency accommodation and that, instead, they will be moved on to appropriate transitional or long - term accommodation, depending on their needs.
At the end of the day, active citizenship is about sharing the responsibility for making this a better society, about everyone playing their part. This evening, I would like to pay tribute to all the generations of students who have committed their energies, enthusiasm and idealism to SHARE down through the years. For those of you who are taking part in this project for the first time, I hope and trust that this will be the beginning of a lifetime of active citizenship.
While I am here this evening, I would like to commend particularly the support given by the parents and, especially, the SHARE Mothers. I would also like to pay tribute to all those in the Cork business community, many of whom are present this evening, for being such generous supporters of SHARE. I understand that some of the co-founders are also present and special recognition is due to them.
Last but not least, I would like to pay tribute to Brother Jerome. Cork City is proud of this great man and honoured him with the Freedom of the City in 1994. And rightly so. Because he represented the best of Cork and brought out the best in it. I know that members of his family are here with us this evening and that his nephew, Padraig Carroll, will be speaking in a moment or so. I am sure it is a comfort to you that Cork has not forgotten Brother Jerome and that his spirit lives on.
Before concluding, a word of thanks to Presentation Brothers College for hosting this occasion and for welcoming me here this evening. Pres has played a leading role from the outset in SHARE and this is very much in keeping with the College's strong Christian ethos. The school has produced many high achievers over the years, not least in the areas of politics, literature and sport.
I know that my colleague, Micheal Martin, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, has fond memories of the time he spent here as a teacher. In closing, I would just like to wish PBC and all of the teachers and pupils every success for the future.
Thank you very much for your attention.
ENDS.