The Conferring Addresses was delivered by Mr Seán O’Sullivan, Managing Director, Seabrook Technology Group (attached) and Dr Vincent Power, Partner, A&L Goodbody & Adjunct Professor of Law, UCC (attached).

Picture:  The first four graduates of the Joint BSc degree in International  Field Geosciences (from left to right) Loretta Corcoran, Joanne Mackey, Noelle Crimmins, Kathleen Nolan with Dr Pat Meere, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences . This degree, the first of its type in UCC, is jointly awarded by UCC and the University of Montana. The program utilises the superb natural field geoscience laboratories available in Europe and the western United States as the basis for a Joint Bachelor of Science degree that focuses  on the documentation, interpretation, and synthesis of critical geological issues in the field. Student mobility is currently funded by an EU/US ATLANTIS award and is co-ordinated by Dr Pat Meere, School of BEES.

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Conferring Address by Mr Seán O'Sullivan, Managing Director, Seabrook Technology Group
Dia dhíbh a dhaoine uaisle agus comhgháirdeachas mór dos na cémithe ar an maidin iontach seo inniu.    
Good morning everybody and congratulations to the new graduates here this morning.
It is a day that will be full of different emotions for everybody here. Parents, graduates and don’t forget the wonderful staff here at UCC who can be very proud of the excellent work that they have done for you,Parents and graduates will naturally be worried about the economy, job prospects and emigration.
These are not new worries.
These challenges have been overcome before and the worry about jobs for graduates is not a new one.However, the technology revolution that we are experiencing in our lifetime has surpassed every other revolution that has ever taken place in this world and this revolution will not abate and will not be harnessed by economic downturn.
There is a huge demand for IT staff in Ireland – the country has a shortage of 2500 graduates.You are lucky. You are going into the market at a time of expansion.The world has changed significantly in the past few years and whilst Ireland is still in difficulty in the construction, retail and financial sectors, I believe that there are huge opportunities for the graduate leaving university today due to the huge technological changes that are taking place in every business.
I have been in the technology business for a long time and, truly, the pace of change in all businesses is phenomenal due to technology.
This is the area where you, the UCC graduate, can forge wonderful careers.I am convinced that if you, as graduates, have the ambition to succeed and can back up your ambition with unlimited enthusiasm that you will overcome any barriers that you meet.I have a great interest in songs and songwriters and I had the opportunity to see and hear a great singer/songwriter at the marquee in June. His name is Paul Simon.In 1986, Paul Simon wrote a song called Boy in the Bubble and it contained this phrase:“These are the days of miracles and wonder. This is the long distance call”
Miracles and Wonder
Just a few weeks ago during the Fastnet race the yacht Rambler 100 with 21 crew on board, one of the most technologically advanced boats ever built, capsized and sank in rough seas and heavy fog.
Five people, including millionaire owner George David were thrown overboard and washed away.They linked arms in the water so that they could stay together and try to exchange body heat. The stormy sea pushed them further and further from the capsized yacht.Back at the capsized yacht, the other crew members were on the upturned hull. The emergency signaling equipment was under water and not functioning so one of the crew set off a signal from a small device that was inserted in his life jacket. This was picked up by Valentia coastguard station and they sent a Mayday distress signal to Baltimore lifeboat that dashed to the yacht.When they got there, they were informed that five people were missing. They contacted Valentia again. In a moment of inspiration Valentia contacted the US Coastguard pollution monitoring service and between them via satellite they pinpointed the location of the five missing crew and another boat picked them up.All 21 people were saved and brought to Baltimore.  A victory for bravery, unlimited commitment and technological advancement.Ten years ago without a doubt, those five people would have perished.Without doubt - these are the days of miracles and wonder.Even closer to here, in fact less than two miles from this University in Model Farm Road, medical technology firm Boston Scientific produce coils that are inserted in the thigh and are guided through the body into the brain area. They are used to cure brain aneurysms.Ten years ago, a brain aneurysm was incurable without major brain surgery and the chances of survival were much lower.In Seabrook, we have also worked with a German company called Biotronik. They have been making pacemakers since 1963. Since then large briefcase sized pacemakers have been reduced to the size of my nail. They are inserted just above the heart and are connected via satellite to worldwide medical centres. If there is any disturbance in the pattern of the heartbeat, a signal is sent to the centre and the patient is contacted immediately with instructions. Life saving technologies - Miracles and wonder.
There are many examples in all areas of life of advancing technologies and for our graduates these areas represent opportunities for exciting and rewarding careers.For example, in the legal practice and government area, we help companies and organisations by automating their search activities with electronic discovery tools. These tools trawl through emails, voice mails, twitters, video and documents to gather evidence or information on very specific topics.The same technology is used by homeland securities in the United States to track every activity and communication by known terrorists.
Another example of revolutionary technological development is the area of textiles and apparel.As Paul O’Connell runs around the field during the rugby world cup, every muscle movement, heartbeat, speed, etc., will be recorded on the tag that is sown into his rugby jersey.Microsoft last week won an award for the Printing Dress – a dress that is accessible by the internet, can take pictures and give Powerpoint presentations.
The European Union recently launched a five year research and development project that would enable apparel – clothes that you wear – become accessible directly via the internet. Miracles – maybe not but certainly a wonder.
I know that as you enter the workplace, you will find many, many opportunities to advance your careers through the use of technology.   I look now towards the galleries and as I do I would ask the graduates to give a rousing round of applause to your parents and guardians who have done so much to get you to this day.
May I wish all the graduates a wonderful day today and a wonderfully successful life.
Beannacht dé oraibh go léir.
ENDS

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Conferring Address by Dr Vincent Power, Partner, A&L Goodbody & Adjunct Professor of Law, UCC
President, Distinguished Academics, Guests, Parents and, most of all, Graduates
Being invited to address you, the Graduates, on such an important day in your lives - a day that will be incapable of erasure from your memory - is a great honour for me.   But it makes me feel very unworthy.  To me, it was only in 1984 that I graduated here in UCC.  And while most of you were not even alive back in that Orwellian year, I feel too young, too inexperienced and too unknown to be invited to speak to you today.  Nonetheless, one can never decline an invitation to give a commencement address at one’s alma mater because it is such a privilege.
I know that you have far better things to do to-day than to listen to some white haired lawyer utter a few obvious words.  But please listen carefully - for at least two reasons.  First, you may have to deliver this talk in a few years’ time and it is useful to see how not to give it.  And, secondly, this advice is free and you don’t often get advice from a lawyer for free.
Clearly, we live in uncertain times.  We live in difficult times.  We live in negative times.
First, I say, don’t be deterred by the uncertainty.  Success has often been born in the most uncertain of times.  McDonalds, one of the most recognisable brands in the whole world, was started in 1940 when the Second World War was underway.   IKEA was founded in 1943 when the world seemed without hope.  Dunnes Stores was founded here in Cork in 1944 when there was rationing of food and clothes.  It is not just in wars that success can be born: Elvery’s, the sports shop, was founded in 1847 –it doesn’t seem sensible to start a sportswear business in the middle of a famine but it has survived.    So, don’t be frightened by uncertainty and don’t delay decisions until the “time is right” – the time is never right, the main thing that happens with time is that you lose it.  Build tomorrow today – and with your UCC parchment in your hand, you are well on your way to doing so.  Just don’t be deterred by the uncertainty.
Secondly, don’t be deterred by the difficulties we face.  Those difficulties, as severe as they may be, are really no different than the difficulties faced by generations over time.  Your difficulties are just a mutation of those which faced all the generations before you and will face those who will follow you.
So don’t be deterred by the uncertainties or the difficulties.
Thirdly, don’t be deterred by the negativity that is so common place in Ireland today.  At the beginning of July, I read two stories about the same event – one story was on an Irish website and the other story was on a UK website - the Irish report headlined that 10% of insurance companies had failed an EU solvency test but the UK one headlined that 90% of them had passed.  It may seem a trivial example but it is a truth and a trait of how some in Ireland see the situation today.  Right now, if you went out the door, went down to the River Lee and then “walked on the water” out Cork harbour and down to Roches Point, the headline tomorrow morning in some quarters would be that you had to walk on the water because “you can’t swim”.  I say: ignore the negativity except in so far as it can provide you with a spur to take you further on your journey.
And remember you have a very long journey ahead of you.  On that road, take the honourable path and not the short cuts.  But don’t be afraid to take the interesting paths either – Henri Matisse trained as a lawyer but became a painter, he is remembered for his art and not his law.  Achieve as much as you can but don’t believe it all has to be achieved quickly.  Winston Churchill did not become Prime Minister – for the first time - until he was 65 years old.  He achieved so much but he had periods of great doubt, episodes of being in the wilderness and what he called the “black dog” of depression.  And perhaps he achieved so much because he always feared dying young – his father, Randolph, died at 45 – so Winston lived his 90 years of days as if each day was his last.  We should all do the same.
Remember, as you travel, to respect those who are walking in front of you as well as those behind you and beside you.  As you travel, be grateful to your parents and those who took you to school on your first day and cried as they left you to start your journey to here and will continue to shoulder you tomorrow.  They are rightly proud of what you have achieved today.  But, graduates, it is you who should be proud of what they have achieved in getting you here today. I know that I am immensely proud of what my parents did and sacrificed to get me here.  Respect and learn from everyone around you.  Don’t see people as old or young, rich or poor; just see them as those from whom you can learn and those whom you can help.
And remember that you can help people by your training as a lawyer.  A few of you may even save the lives of people on death row but all of you must use the legal skills that you have been grafted on to you in the last few years by the finest law faculty in the land to make the lives of others better and “richer” in the best sense of that word.
And speaking of richness, remember, graduates, as you go forward in these economically challenging times, you are the richest people in the room.  You have long lives ahead of you.  You have the key to richness because you have the key to the warehouse of time.  No bank can ever lend you “time”.  Your lives are not in NAMA.  You have the credit of time.  But some day, there will be little time left.  That scary needle of time will be closer to “E” than “F”.  So live every moment that you have and have fun.  Don’t worry about “getting there” – when you get there, you won’t recognise it because there is no “there” on this earth –there is only the “here” but make the most of it to get you to the next life.
So, graduates, what have I said?  I have simply and obviously stated the simply obvious.  I have recited truths which could have been spoken here at the very first conferring more than 150 years ago.  I have said: don’t be deterred by uncertainty; don’t be deterred by the difficulties we face; don’t be deterred by the negativity; help others and remember you can do so as a lawyer; live life to the very full; and have fun!  But prepare yourself, because in 27 years’ time, out of the blue, you may be called upon to stand here and speak. You will have long forgotten me by then.  But remember what you have heard.  And now that you have heard it, and as you leave this moment and this phase of your life behind you, it is entirely up to you to choose the proper and honourable road to follow.  I am confident you will take the right turns.

ENDS

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