Among those who graduated were the first cohort of BEd Sports Studies & Physical Education.

The Conferring Addresses were delivered by Mme Hélène Duquin, Director, Alliance Française and Vice-President, Institute Robert Schuman for Europe (attached); Dr Máirín Quill, Chairperson, The Aloys Fleischmann Centenary Celebration Working Group (attached) and Mr Eamonn Ryan, Coach to the Cork Women’s Football Team (attached).

An Honorary MA was conferred on Mr John Fitzpatrick, Artistic & Festival Director, Cork Choral Festival and Ms Mareta Doyle, Director of the Lewis Glucksman Gallery.

Picture:  UCC President, Dr Michael Murphy with Michael Cahill, who graduated with a BEd (Hons) Sports Studies & Physical Education degree today (September 7th 2010). Michael was a member of the victorious All-Ireland Tipperary Hurling Team which defeated Kilkenny on September 5th 2010.  He is also a member of the under-21 Tipperary Hurling Team and will line out for the Final on Saturday next (September 11th 2010) against Galway. 

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First of all I would like to congratulate you all on your wonderful academic achievement which reflects your great commitment, the superb outcome of your many years’ hard work, and the beginning of a thrilling period in your lives. You are credit to yourselves, your university, your country and indeed to Europe.

As the Director of the Alliance Française de CORK, and as the Vice-President of the Institute Robert SCHUMAN for Europe, I am very honoured this morning to address you because, for me, you are the future of Europe, you are the future of Ireland in Europe.

Ireland is a gem within Europe, Ireland is an essential component of Europe, Europe needs Ireland, and all its excellence, which you all embody, to be able to  fully be itself; Europe needs you to realise this goal, and the great skills and knowledge you have started to gather in this beautiful University College Cork are the fundamental instruments to forge our common future both nationally, and internationally.

There is a quotation, of which I am particularly fond, from one of Cork’s most distinguished citizens, Jack Lynch, who oversaw Ireland’s entry into the then European Community. I quote:

It would be unthinkable that Ireland which “belongs to Europe by history, tradition and sentiment no less than geography, should stand aside from this historical process”.

For all of you who have chosen to study the arts and humanities, European and Cultural studies, and European languages, you prove your openness to the world, to the Other; You reassert that what Europe is primarily about first and foremost is the blossoming of men and women in order to fully realise their potential and talents towards greater international cooperation.

Europe is a privileged space of equality of chances, of emancipation for the individual, and of the fostering of citizenship. It matters to all of us to continue this European Construction within the footsteps of the Founders of Europe, since the memory of the various tragedies that have cruelly marked our territories is still vivid.

When we enter the death camps of the second World War, when we walk on these roads we call the roads of shame, when we encounter human distress, we thankfully also meet men and women such as Robert SCHUMAN, whose mission and whose ideal:  « Make the European Men and Women raise. » is the only one that can redeem Europe of such a trauma.  Europe is not only an economic space, it is also a unique and privileged democratic space, and its vocation is to continue to serve humankind to the best of its ability.

Through excellence in education and training, in scientific and technological research, through literature, arts, philosophy, human sciences, we must continue to enlighten the European Consciousness, to determine what is right, what is good, what is beautiful, to reach for what is fair. Europe is a historical power; its vocation is to be not only an economic power but also a generous democratic and cultural power in the world.  And you are the ones who will help to fulfil this vocation.

To create a European democratic and humanist society is a fair and thrilling project. It is yours, it is mine, it is ours.

Great Irish figures like Mary ROBINSON, Patrick HILLARY have fully committed themselves in this direction.

Europe improves our daily life, it facilitates progress thanks to the mobility of ideas and people which it allows and encourages. It is not only in the name of competitiveness that we must achieve and succeed to create a political Europe; it is in the name of the progress of Civilisation. It is a continent of opportunities that is offered to us, we are just about to become more conscious of it.  In allowing our European Citizenship to blossom, Europe gives birth to a unique and unheard of Community, that is why we need all our intelligences to be able to live up to the Challenge that its political harmonious construction requests; and Ireland is the country which counts the highest number of Nobel prizes in proportion to its population, Europe does need all its genius for a strong construction: it needs your genius.

At the highest level of the various European States, Europe is looking for strategic responses and reactions to answer the various economic, cultural, political and democratic challenges it faces.

Europe has to live up to many challenges; it is, for Europeans, the new political frontier of our time. Europe has great initiatives to take, great risks to master.

“Who could have imagined 50 years ago that today the European Union would consist of 27 Member States? Its population having a very high standard of living and member states being all based upon stable democracies.  Through a still limited pooling of our national sovereignties, we Europeans have fashioned a uniquely successful instrument to promote our interests and our values.  We have become a truly global actor. Our population of half a billion is larger than the US and Russia combined.  We have established the Euro, now the second reserve currency for central banks.  We have created a single market that is the world’s largest trader with a 20% share of global trade and an equivalent share of global income.  We are the largest donor community of official Development Assistance in the world, accounting for 55% of all such aid and are the biggest donor of humanitarian food aid.   We are active leaders in the fight to address the challenges of global warming and climate change, not least through the Kyoto Process, which would not exist without determined EU leadership.  We are indispensable to the establishing of the International Criminal Court in The Hague as an extension of the concept of the rule of law in which we believe. By any standards, this is an impressive record of achievement, of solidarity, of sustainability and of leadership but also of service to European citizens, their needs and their ideals. The Union has the credibility and legitimacy to forge ahead!”

And only thanks to young, hugely-talented women and men such as yourselves will we achieve that dream!

Je vous remercie pour votre attention.

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Conferring Address by Dr Máirín Quill, Chairperson, The Aloys Fleischmann Centenary Celebrations Working Group, 12.30pm, September 7th 2010

A Uachtaráin, a Ollamh Micheál Ó Murchú, agus a bhfuil i láthair,

Thank you, President, for inviting me to give this address.  It is with deep delight that I accept.

There is something about an Autumn Conferring.  It is the time when the Universities harvest their finest – their brightest and best.  It is a time for celebration of worthwhile achievement and honest endeavour.  It is a moment of optimism.  A time of shaping the next generation of labourers to go into the vineyard – bringing with them fresh insights, new energies and what Seamus Heaney describes as “a refreshed view of the world”.

There is a marked absence of freshness in the vineyard that you will be entering – rather a glut of sour grapes.  Not surprisingly then, there is also abroad a yearning for new leadership of our public institutions – a longing for dynamic leadership to steer us away from the wreckage.  It is a time for heroes.

This year, 2010, UCC celebrates the birth of a true hero.  One of the most distinguished and remarkable cultural icons of the twentieth century – Professor Aloys Fleischmann, an honours graduate of this College, like so many of you here this morning.

The Fleischmann legacy is celebrated not alone in this College, where he did his undergraduate studies, but also by one hundred and thirteen cultural organisations spread over the four provinces of Ireland and additionally in Britain, China, Germany and the United States.  At the end of the year, sixty concerts with performances of his works will have been heard.

We marvel at the beauty, range and power of the music that he wrote – marvel also at the music that he did not write.  It was Keats who, in his poem “Ode to a Grecian Urn”, wrote

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter.

Without question, Fleischmann sacrificed his own composition because he had a burning sense of public service – with not a hint of self-service.  He had an extravagant ambition for Ireland.  He believed passionately that Ireland could excel.  He believed that it was never enough to bring music to his own students – even though he did that with an extraordinary spirit of generosity – but he had to bring music to the wider public and, above all else, to the children, in the context of their formal education.

To that end, he gave his every ounce – every fibre of his being.  He used the media of his day to argue cogently and convincingly for proper provision for music in education at every level.  He had this riveting radio voice and he would castigate the half-hearted and the mealy-mouthed.  He also used the print media very effectively. 

When he founded the Cork Symphony Orchestra, he first founded the Cork Orchestra Society - to underpin his ambitions to bring orchestral works and great world orchestras to Cork.  Not to the Aula Max, rather down to the civic heart of the community – the City Hall.

The aftermath of World War II left neutral Ireland isolated and introverted.  Writers like Joyce, Beckett and Casey had fled.  Ó Faoláin adopted a disdainful stance.  Not so Fleischmann. 

He decided that Cork could host an International Choral Festival.  Now, in 1954, Cork had no airport, the telephone system was pre-adamite.  He galvanised the support of the community and sourced choirs, many from countries then in the Eastern Block.  Some were penniless – yet he contrived to get them to Cork where they lived for the duration of the Festival in the homes of host families.  Here they met with, and sang with, choir members from all over Ireland and many of the Western Democracies, proving that music and song can surmount man-made borders and language barriers.

I am not certain if he subscribed to the belief that it was the songs of the Beatles that broke down the Berlin Wall or indeed if he ever bobbed about to a Beatle song himself, but he would have applauded those who had the courage to challenge dogman and determinism.

It was GK Chesterton who once stated that the true measure of greatness could be found not in monuments or medallions but in the new textures and colours that come alive in other people.

Fleischmann’s greatness rests not only on his ideas, though they were always inspiring and challenging, but in his own shining example.  He fully realised how underdeveloped the state of music was in Ireland when he accepted the post of Professor of Music in UCC in 1934.  He knew that if the situation was to be changed, the battle should begin with the schools – the Primary Schools.  He fought that battle tooth-and-nail for the following fifty years. 

One of the key objectives he set in the Music department he developed was to train teachers to go out to the schools and teach, to bring the discipline of music education into the heart of all education, to nurture the aesthetic artistic impulse that he believed to be latent in every child and to unleash that potential.  He saw that as essential to the growth and development of the person and of the nation.

That thinking was revolutionary to official thinking in Irish education in the mid years of the twentieth century.  It’s not so revolutionary now.  There is now a body of belief that supports the Fleischman insights.  This is in tune with the theories of Howard Gardner on Multiple Intelligences, as so ably presented by Professor Áine Hyland during her exciting years as Head of Education in this College.  David Best of the University of Swansea in his book Reason and Feeling in the Arts, argues the case very coherently.  A recently published White Paper describes the Arts inter alia as “Fostering important kinds of thinking and problem-solving”.  So a consensus is developing. 

The question now is who will challenge the providers?  Is there another Fleischmann in the making here among the 2010 Autumn graduates of this most-respected of Colleges?

Thank you.

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Conferring Address by Mr Eamonn Ryan, Coach to the Cork Women’s Football Team, 3.30pm, September 7th 2010

President Murphy, Members of the Academic Staff, Graduates, Parents, Ladies and Gentlemen,

My initial reaction when first invited to give this address was quite frankly one of shock and surprise as there are obviously many other people far better qualified and much more suitable for the job.  After a little pressure, however, I succumbed, partly because of my affection for UCC, but mainly because of the not so subtle promptings of Dr Julia Walsh.

Having accepted the invitation, which is obviously a tremendous honour, I had the misfortune to peruse a list of the high achievers who have addressed these gatherings over the years and all my original misgivings came flooding back.  By then, however, ‘twas too late – there was no turning back so, for better or worse, here I am.

My ties with UCC span a period of almost 50 years.  In the early 1960’s, while continuing the day job as a national teacher, I decided to embark on a night course here in College.  The next four years were hectic but immensely enjoyable – teaching by day, classes by night and sport whenever and wherever possible!  The end result of this activity was a BA Degree, a Higher Diploma in Education and best of all a few Sigerson Cup medals!  Marriage in the Honan Chapel in my final year brought my first period in UCC to a very happy conclusion.

In the 1980’s my dealings with College were costly ones in that they involved handing over large chunks of money so that some of my kids could study and party for a few years.  On retiring from teaching, I returned to UCC where I spent six very happy years in the PE Dept before being retired on the grounds of old age and I presume, diminishing, if not diminished, responsibility.

However my link with UCC continues through my contacts with the Sports Studies students, work which is challenging, stimulating and exciting.

Today is, above all else, a celebration of youth – its vibrancy, its resilience, its capacity for good and, in the case of our new graduates, their many and varied achievements.  Before proceeding, it is only right at this stage to extend our heartiest congratulations to all the parents gathered here today.  You can be justifiably proud of your sons and daughters who today, no doubt, after some trials and tribulations along the way, have reached their particular promised land.  Your love and selflessness have inspired you to make so many sacrifices to ensure that your children always had the emotional and financial support which was so important over the years.  Rest assured, your kids appreciate all you’ve done for them, even though at times they may find it difficult to articulate their appreciation.

Let’s not forget either at this juncture all the others who have been confidants, guides and mentors to our new graduates – siblings, friends, teachers and the academic staff here in UCC.

The nature of my work, and my obsession with sport, have ordained that interaction with young people has been an integral part of my life.  I feel lucky to have had such a rewarding life and consider it an honour and a privilege, as well as being hugely educational, to have had such positive contacts with young people over the years.

Growing up has always been hard work and the teenage years can be particularly challenging ones for both parents and children.  The vast majority of our young people, however, emerge relatively unscathed and develop into idealistic, generous and responsible adults full of energy and enthusiasm.  My experiences in the PE Dept and with our Sports Science students bears out this contention.  I cannot speak too highly of the calibre of young men and women I’ve had the pleasure of working with in College and in various teams.

My admiration for our young people has been further bolstered by coaching trips abroad.  In cities as diverse as Singapore, Barcelona, San Francisco and Amsterdam among others, the Irish diaspora maintain a link to home through their participation in Gaelic Games.  One could not but be proud of these excellent young ambassadors for our country.  They are intelligent, confident, articulate, and immensely proud of their heritage and after each trip, I become more and more convinced that we must be doing something right in Ireland despite the rampaging tide of negativity that threatens to engulf our country.  Many of the people to the fore in organising all this activity are proud alumni of UCC.

At this juncture, I want to congratulate all our new graduates on securing that elusive piece of paper for which you have studied and partied so hard.  Your big day has finally arrived but unfortunately for you, I want to share a few random thoughts with you which hopefully you will reflect on before you are released out into the world…

•  You are privileged to have spent time in College where, hopefully you’ve gained in confidence, made new and enduring friendships and have had your knowledge and passion for your subject enhanced.  Always remember however, that everybody is not as lucky.  There is still quite a substantial minority in society who find access to third-level difficult, problematic and, in many cases, verging on the impossible.  As future teachers, educators and leaders in society I would appeal to you to do what you can, through your work and your example, to ensure that more and more young people may aspire to an education that will help them to process their world, engage with their world and ultimately contribute more fully to their world. 
• Work hard at what you enjoy and are good at – otherwise move on – Life is a performance, not a rehearsal.  Remember that talent or ability needs to be complemented by hard work in any sphere of human endeavour.
• Be true to yourself – Trust your intuition – Don’t let the noise of other people drown out your inner voice.  Trusting and following your intuition is an integral part of reaching your full potential.
• Remember that we’re all flawed, imperfect creatures for whom it’s natural to make mistakes – Don’t let your mistakes overwhelm you and drag you down.  Making mistakes is a part of the human condition and doesn’t automatically mean you’re inferior or less of a person – Just means you’re human and therefore prone to mistakes.  Learn to reflect on your mistakes, learn from them and try to avoid making similar faux pas in the future.  You will be a better and stronger individual as a result.
• We are all capable of instigating change but remember change happens in small chunks and over time.  If you really want to bring about change, you may sometimes have to subjugate your own ego so that someone who has the power and capacity to do so will move a project along – but your time will come.
• Society has been good to you – it has invested time and money to bring you to this great day.  Endeavour to give something back to your community - don’t curb your innate goodness and generosity.
• At the time you entered College four or five years ago, we were led to believe that our economy was booming and an almost Utopian future was being forecast for us all.  As you are now only too aware all is changed, changed utterly and nowadays we’re subjected to an almost daily barrage of doom and gloom.  The great danger with this proliferation of negativity is that it might sap some of the energy and creativity from some of you young people.

You are our greatest resource – you are our human capital.

You are our future as a country – we need your energy and positivity.

You glass is always half-full or even fuller – Keep it that way.

Reflect on the mistakes of previous generations.

Try to avoid being too judgemental but resolve not to repeat the same mistakes.

• To those of you who may emigrate – please don’t stay away too long.  Embrace your new surroundings and experiences, learn from them and then come back to us so that we may benefit from your expertise and more rounded personality. At a selfish level, we need you back to generate more revenue for the provision of better facilities and more salubrious retirement and nursing homes for the elderly!!

The clock is ticking – there’s lots to do.

You’re the people with the intellectual, moral and physical capacity to do it.

Don’t waste any more valuable seconds but go forth from here and as the Nike ad says - Just do it!

Gabhaim buíochas ó chroí libh as bheith chomh foighneach liom agus guím gach rath oraibh sa tsaol atá romhaibh amach anseo.

Citation for Honorary Degree of Master of Arts, John Fitzpatrick, 12.30pm, September 7th 2010 delivered by Professor Fred Powell, Dean of Social Studies & Head of School

President, Academic Colleagues, Graduates, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am honoured to present Mr John Fitzpatrick to you as the recipient today of an Honorary Masters Degree in Arts from UCC.

John Fitzpatrick is an Arts and Music graduate from UCC.  He has made a distinguished contribution to the musical life of Cork. Music is one of the defining artistic forms of our civilization, linking the intellect to the emotions through its own unique language.  Music is also one of the oldest arts of humankind.  It has many forms of expression, none more beautiful than the human voice.  John Fitzpatrick has devoted his adult life to promoting music in Cork, Ireland and Europe.  His achievements are very remarkable based upon a variety of inspirational roles.

John Fitzpatrick is a widely experienced conductor, lecturer, adjudicator, examiner, and tutor.  He has been associated with the prestigious Cork International Choral Festival for many years becoming its Artistic and Festival Director in 1993.  He is also widely regarded as being the driving force behind its continued artistic and organisational development at local, national, and international level over that period, a period which included Cork’s designation as European Capital of Culture in 2005. 

As Director of the County Cork VEC School of Music from 1974 to 2009, John Fitzpatrick was responsible for the strategic development of one of the few county music services in Ireland, providing instrumental music tuition annually to over 3000 students in 35 centres throughout the county.  He is a founder Board Member of both AOIC (The Association of Irish Choirs) and The Music Network, is a Member of the Choral Festival Network and is a Music Consultant to Europa Cantat, the European Federation of Youth Choirs.  As well as adjudicating at national level, John Fitzpatrick is a regular adjudicator at international choral festivals, including representing Ireland as a Jury member at member festivals of the prestigious European Choral Grand Prix. 

In 2007 John Fitzpatrick was honoured by the City of Cork when he was presented with the Cork Person of the Year Award.  Today, UCC is privileged to continue his long association with the University by awarding him an honorary Masters Degree of Arts in recognition of his services to choral music and to the cultural life of Cork.

It is an honour for me, President, to commend John Fitzpatrick to you today and to ask you to confer an Honorary Masters Degree in Arts on this most worthy Irish citizen, recognising his major achievements in the promotion of music and culture.

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Citation for Honorary Degree of Master of Arts, Mareta Doyle, 3.30pm, September 7th 2010 delivered by Professor Fred Powell, Dean of Social Studies & Head of School

President, Academic Colleagues, Graduates, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am honoured to present Ms Mareta Doyle to you as the recipient today of an Honorary Masters Degree in Arts from University College Cork.

Mareta Doyle is a native of Sligo.  She studied Arts and Art History at University College Dublin.  Mareta Doyle moved to Kinsale 20 years ago when she married Conor Doyle.  She is the mother of four children.  Throughout her adult life, Mareta Doyle has had a consuming interest in the Arts and the public appreciation and celebration of the Arts.

Today we are conferring an honorary degree on Mareta Doyle for her contribution to the Arts.  Her contribution has been to the promotion of fine arts, especially the visual arts but also music.  Many graduands today have been conferred with degrees in the liberal arts – a course of study involving systematic bodies of knowledge.  The liberal arts are one aspect of the arts, which also includes the visual arts, music, literature and poetry.  In so many ways the Arts define what we call civilisation – our human capacity to transcend the utilitarian and celebrate the genius of humanity.  The Arts also remind us of the relationship between the intellect and the emotions, between truth and beauty and of our constantly changing optic on the world.  The Arts are a form of interpretation of life.  That is what makes them so seminal to our existence as human beings.

We are congregated here at UCC today in a place where truth and beauty exists in a rich mix of intellectual and visual achievement.  The learning that informs the life of the university is complemented by the rare beauty of the campus, adorned by exemplary architecture, sculpture and the extraordinarily inspiring art gallery, the Glucksman.

Mareta Doyle has been a director of the Glucksman Art Gallery since 2005.  The Glucksman is in itself a striking artistic achievement.  But its real achievement has been to provide a space for the visual arts to thrive on the UCC campus.  Mareta Doyle, along with the other directors, has chosen to use this space wisely and inclusively to provide art exhibitions, education and the appreciation of the visual arts.  They have reached out to children, providing regular events directed towards them.

In 2004, Mareta Doyle founded Kinsale Arts Week – a multidisciplinary arts festival that is now one of the biggest arts festivals in County Cork and one of the top ten festivals in Ireland.  Kinsale Arts Week is about connecting the community to art by putting art at its centre.  Mareta Doyle, as festival chairperson, programmes the visual arts and other parts of the festival and is actively involved in the running of the event along with the festival director.

Kinsale has become a thriving arts centre under Mareta Doyle’s inspiration, with large-scale outdoor art installations in Charles Fort – drawing on the work of national and international artists.  Kinsale now also has its own art gallery in the renovated Old Mill building.  The renovation and restoration work was supervised by Mareta Doyle.  She has been at the centre of a very real cultural renaissance in Kinsale.  This is a very significant achievement for any human being.

Mareta Doyle has also contributed to the cultural life of Cork City.  Apart from her participation in the Glucksman, Mareta Doyle served as a board member of the Triskel Arts Centre for 9 years, until 2006.  Her interests also extend to music.  She has served on the board of Cork Music Week since 2004. 

It is a fitting tribute to this very active citizen, whose accomplishments in promoting the Arts are truly exceptional, that she be conferred with an honorary MA today.

It is an honour for me, President, to commend Mareta Doyle to you today and to ask you to confer an Honorary Masters Degree in Arts on this most worthy Irish citizen, recognising her major achievements in the promotion of the arts in Cork.

ENDS

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