President returns for a big day at his kids’ old school
The President of Ireland highlighted his family’s special connection with Coláiste Iognáid when he was guest of honour at the official opening of three new buildings at the school on Friday.
President Michael D. Higgins pointed out that all four of his children were past-pupils of the school, affectionately known as the Jes, which has been revamped at a cost of €6 million.
“Coláiste Iognáid is, of course, the school which was attended by my own children so it is a particular pleasure to have been invited here to celebrate the official opening of your newly upgraded campus,” he told the attendance of over 800 at the new sports hall.
“It is no secret that it was the holistic ethos, sense of community and culture of personal development and social responsibility that first attracted so many to this school and, as a parent and now President, I am deeply grateful to Coláiste Iognáid for your contribution to the Irish education system.”
He said that the Jes was founded in an Ireland of “poverty and harsh social conditions” in the late 19th century, when a second level education was a “great luxury” and third level “an impossible dream” for the vast majority of Irish children.
During his speech at the Sea Road facility, he urged all of those involved in educating young people to play their part in eliminating bullying, especially homophobic bullying.
“We are a well educated society and a country that has made considerable progress towards the elimination of discrimination against citizens based on class, gender, physical and mental ability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation,” he said.
“We are a country that has emerged from more than thirty years of violence in Northern Ireland arising from our divided history and
the foundations have been laid for peace and reconciliation. We are, indeed, a country that has much to be proud of as we review our journey over the last century and a half.”
He said that the Jes had the distinction of becoming the first co-educational secondary school in the city in 1984 – and his daughter, Alice-Mary, was in that class. His wife, Sabina, had been on the parents’ council for 16 years.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.