President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins opens ‘the junction’
President Michael Higgins
Yesterday we attended the official opening of “the junction” at St. Andrews resource centre in Dublin. The new centre provides a number of services to the local community including a new Youth Service, Job Centre and enterprise centre. Damian Scattergood STAR’s managing director and Marine Blet our social media expert attended the event.
The new centre was opened by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. President Higgins’ address was fantastic and he spoke about his life in the city and how we can all achieve our best.
Speaking about entrepreneurs and how people can make an impact on their community President Higgins said…
We need people to put their stamp on where they live and bring their values to the community
This is a value we hold close to our own hearts in STAR. President Higgins then went on to describe his own life. He had lived for nearly 18 years in Grattan Hall just around the corner from the resource centre so knew the area well. He talked about his young Dublin where you could go out in the early morning for milk for breakfast being so close to everyone. The basics in live being so important. There is a necessity to remember where you come from, the basics of buying milk and to recognize how far we have come. We are in a new period of history now in Ireland and we need to take example from the best of what we had in the past – a sense of community and support.
We all need to have a sense of belonging and responsibility to each other.
He recalled the poems of the late Seamus Heaney and remarked on how often the terms of poverty and “scraping a living” came up in literature. Ireland has moved on from those times but we should remember what made us strong.
Dublin has great resilience and ‘Deadly Humor’
Our language has changed, we now are more official, rigid and neutral in how we talk. We need some of our natural language to maintain our identity and grow. “Inclusive Citizenship” is important so that we can learn from each others cultures, languages, skills and experiences. Participation in our community helps us grow and we need to embrace everything – both the good and the bad. Remember where we came from, embrace and be part of your community and help each other grow.
A great day. Thanks to everyone at St Andrews Resource Centre for asking us along and for their hospitality on the day. Job well done.
