Foróige leaders from Mayo have been honoured by President Michael D Higgins as part of the charity's 60th anniversary celebrations.
Speaking at the 42nd Annual Foróige Leaders' Conference, President Higgins said: “So much of what Foróige does nurtures the curious mind, prepares it for adult life, and also provides young people with valuable skill sets to meet challenges. The range of services and opportunities you provide are hugely impressive by any standard including a number of firsts; the first organisation to provide general youth work services in disadvantaged areas; for example, working with An Garda Siochána to roll out one of the first Garda Youth Diversion Projects; Drug and Alcohol Prevention Projects; bringing the internationally proven one-to-one mentoring programme ‘Big Brothers, Big Sisters’ to Ireland.”
The conference heard inspirational and sometimes moving accounts from people associated with Foróige during each of the last six decades. Representing the 1980s, Councillor Ger Deere said: “I honestly believe that all of the skills I learned through Foróige—particularly through the co-op movement—have got me to where I am today, working in the Constituency Office in Castlebar of Fine Gael Leader and Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. After all, the political game is all about people and communicating with people. I learned that through Foróige.”
The Foróige Annual Leaders' Conference also heard a contribution from Taoiseach Enda Kenny himself. “Since 1952 Foróige has helped countless young people to develop and grow their own abilities and attributes, to think for themselves and to give something back to their respective communities. In very many ways Foróige has been a transforming force in the lives of young people over the past six decades.”
Sixty years ago the first ever Foróige Youth Club was established in Kilkenny. It is now Ireland's leading and largest youth organisation working with almost 57,000 young people and 5,125 adult volunteers annually, through a network of 534 youth clubs, 126 targeted projects and national programmes such as Entrepreneurship and Leadership.
