Seanad debates

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

Volunteering in Irish Society: Statements

 

2:00 pm

Photo of Denis O'DonovanDenis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)

I wish to briefly contribute to this important topic. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Many of the points I wish to raise probably have been already raised.

When we think of volunteerism we tend to think of the GAA, one of the greatest volunteering organisations that has been in place in Ireland for the past 130 years. I admire people who are involved in all sports, whether it be rowing, soccer, athletics or boxing. A great level of volunteerism occurs across the board.

I also recognise the work done by the ICA and one tends to think of it as a professional body. However, one of the strongest organisations involved in farming is the IFA and most of the people involved in it at local level are volunteers. That contribution should be recognised.

Coming from a coastal area in west Cork, I must single out for particular mention the Coast and Cliff Rescue, the RNLI and other such organisations. When the appalling tragedy occurred last January 12 months where three fishing trawlers were lost at sea for several weeks, many people from as far away as Kerry, west Cork, Kinsale, Waterford, Dunmore East, Wexford and east Cork gave voluntarily of their time over several days to search, under supervision, for the bodies of the crew members who might have been washed ashore. In the face of that appalling sea tragedy, these people put their shoulder to the wheel and offered encouragement. It was very well received by the unfortunate people who suffered personal losses and by the coastal community.

Also deserving of mention are organisations in my home area, namely the Bantry inshore rescue team, the local fire station and the Red Cross, the members of which do tremendous work.

The tidy towns associations play a phenomenal role from an environmental perspective in terms of improvements to towns and villages, a role I greatly encourage. Amazing successes have been achieved in west Cork in towns such as Kinsale and Clonakilty, which won international awards.

A previous speaker mentioned the role of school boards, but we should also consider the contribution made by the members of harbour boards. Many people are of the view that people appointed to a harbour board get paid for their contributions. To the best of my knowledge, there are 11 members on the Kinsale Harbour Board, Bantry Harbour Board and Baltimore Harbour Board. They meet, at a minimum, once or twice a month if there is an important issue to be considered. These members do not receive any funding for attending these meetings. When I was a member of Bantry Harbour Board, I recall members were offered the measly sum of €40 per month but, for the sake of the community and other projects in the area, the board decided to decline such funding. Some people believe that people are members of boards, be it a harbour board or any other board, for what they can make of it. People travel to these meetings, which can often continue for two or three hours, and their contributions should be recognised as another form of volunteerism.

Senator Bacik mentioned volunteerism within religious organisations. There is no doubt that the amount of work done by religious organisations not only in Ireland but internationally over the centuries has never been properly recognised. One hears of the abuse by some members of religious organisations, but if we were to separate the chaff from the grain, we would acknowledge the tremendous successes of those organisations not measured by decades but by centuries of hard work. As a nation, we should be proud that we were once the island of saints and scholars. Our missionaries did tremendous work throughout the world. I am not referring only to the Roman Catholic Church but to other church denominations and the contributions of ministers of the Eucharist and other volunteers. I recently attended a fete in my home parish in which a number of volunteers were involved in a annual fundraising event for the local Church of Ireland. It gave a tremendous boost to the local community and great work was done.

I should also mention the great work done by the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team, the Coast and Cliff Rescue organisation in my area and the Coast Guard service in difficult and adverse circumstances.

We should not forget another element of volunteerism, illustrated by the largest attempted smuggling into west Cork of €0.5 billion worth of cocaine in July 2007. I spoke to the coxswain of the Baltimore lifeboat service subsequently and he was not sure whether it was appropriate to do so but they were asked to bring on board the big bales of cocaine potentially worth a great deal of money. They did that. There is a serious side to this issue. In the context of the volume of drugs being smuggled into this country, we often take for granted the vigilance of local people involved in groups such as Community Alert or Neighbourhood Watch. They do great work in their local areas. The great community spirit in west Cork was evident at the time of that incident when those involved were observed going through a farmer's yard and eventually some of them were apprehended and are now serving long prison sentences. A great deal of good work is done by these community organisations.

There are also organisations that do great work behind the scenes. I refer to the work done by Alcoholic Anonymous and services such as Meals on Wheels and so on.

Volunteerism is alive and well. We have several examples of the great work done by volunteers. I acknowledge, however, that society has changed. When I grew up in rural Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s, we had thrashings, meitheals for cutting the turf and farmers and neighbours worked together to bring in the hay. Now that we all have such busy lives, we hardly have time to talk to each other. A lot of work has been done. I welcome the Minister of State and I am sure a lot more will be done.

Senator Bacik said she was surprised that the number of male volunteers outnumbered female volunteers by 3:1. In that respect, we have to be mindful of the words of the song, "Girls just wanna have fun". I will finish on that note.

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