Refugees         bbermingham@corkcity.ie    www.bbermingham.com

Address by the Deputy Lord Mayor,

Councillor Brian Bermingham,

 at Launch of Display of Posters

 and Launch of Farranree Directory of Services,

 Farranree Community Development and Resource Centre,

on Tuesday, 21st. November 2000, 6.30pm.

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LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

I am delighted to be here with you tonight to celebrate a double occasion, each of them significant in a very special way and I thank the Farranree Community Development Project for honouring me with the invitation.

We are here in the first instance to launch a very unique display of posters on the theme of racism, tolerance and discrimination in Ireland.

 This exhibition has previously been on display in the National Library and now your Committee have secured it for exhibition.   The subjects of racism, tolerance and discrimination would not even have been on the chart of Top Twenty topical subjects in Ireland as recently as a decade or even five years ago.

These are matters we would have heard about, read about or seen on television.  Issues for other countries but certainly not for Ireland.   How quickly the times have moved.   How quickly the world has changed.  Even Europe itself has changed in terms of the movement of people.

 Today we have hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees arriving in Ireland and being distributed into towns and cities.   It would be silly of me to pretend there is no controversy about their arrival and their presence. 

 But the sight of people of different nationalities and different racial colours to ours on our city streets on a daily basis is also an enriching event.   We are perched up here on the north-west corner of Europe but it was inevitable that, in time, we would be hosts to many men, women and children of other nationalities.  The changing world is now already with us.

The challenge to us all is to see the benefits for us as an Irish people, the benefits of being enriched by other cultures and putting into practice what we have always known - that the Irish are a generous-hearted and open people prepared to give the people of other cultures a fair chance of proving themselves, as we ourselves have been given the opportunity in other countries.

We have always been a warm and welcoming nation. Of all the countries in the world we are the one with the tradition of offering the hand of friendship and generosity.  Now we have the opportunity to welcome people who may be here for a little while - or for longer - as they sort out a crisis of personal insecurity and fear apart from serious economic problems caused by violence, neglect or ill-treatment in their own countries.

 The exhibition of posters is vivid and challenging and will give us all the opportunity for thought and reflection.

I am also delighted to be here to launch the Farranree Directory of Services which will be an invaluable aid in sourcing and getting access to the large number of services available in this area.

 This is a comprehensive local directory of voluntary and statutory agencies and organisations and I must pay tribute in a special way to Mark Jordan, a Masters student in Youth and Community Affairs who carried out the research for the directory.

 I congratulate the Farranree Community Development Project and its Co-Ordinator Chris O’Leary and his team. 

They lead an unique project and serve the community well.   In commending their work, I have no hesitation in saying that the greatest tribute the people of the area can pay them is to use the services and projects to the full.

 Thank you again for inviting me here.  I now formally launch the two projects.

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