Clare Volunteers Praised by MEP
Co. Clare had every right to feel proud of its involvement in volunteering and as MEP for Clare, she was proud to represent a county in the European Parliament where commitment to ‘work of the heart’ was so strong.
This was stated by Independent MEP Marian Harkin when she spoke at the presentation of certificates at a ‘Volunteer Recognition Event’ organised by Clare Volunteer Centre and Age Action Ireland which was held in Ennis Public Library on Friday, February 19th. She congratulated Age Action Ireland and the Clare Volunteer Centre for organising the ‘Getting Started’ programme for older people which is geared towards providing them with basic skills in computers, internet and email. At the function medals were also presented to young people who participated in an arts competition on the theme ‘What Does A Volunteer Look Like?’
Marian Harkin MEP said: “At a period in our history when the work of volunteering is ever more important I have great admiration for the work of the Clare Volunteer Centre. It is organisations like this that inspired me to seek to have volunteering achieve greater recognition at European level. In this regard I led the successful campaign to have 2011 designated as the EU European Year on Volunteering and this will add a further focus on the value of volunteering and justification for having the voice of that activity tangibly recognised in national and EU policies.
“Age Action Ireland deserves great credit for organising the ‘Getting Started’ programme and I applaud the prizewinners, and those who have taken part in the volunteer recognition event ‘What Does A Volunteer Look Like’, which identifies volunteering as ‘work of the heart’.
“All of this is volunteering in action, in deed, and in outcome and being invited to events like this makes me feel genuinely proud that I can represent your interests as volunteers at European level. There are 100 million volunteers in the EU and this represents 20% of all of the citizens of the EU. In Ireland the figure is even higher with over 30% of participants with huge potential to improve the quality of life of their communities.
“Volunteering is all about the local, the community and a sense of place and of making that place a better place for all. Each local area with their combined efforts ripple through county level to regional and national and this activity has a very positive effect at all levels.
“The opposite of local is globalisation, about which much is spoken these days. It is neither good or bad but it can have good or bad impacts. The global interest is very positive giving for instance, the ability to talk to the son or daughter in Australia or America at no more than the cost of a local call. On the downside we have the globalised use of internet in the financial services sector which ultimately destroyed national economies through the internationalisation of credit default swaps and sub prime lending packages which harmed not just companies but economies of countries like Ireland and Greece. There are many things outside the control of citizens but volunteering gives us back some of that control. Volunteering allows us to influence for the good our own lives, and that of others.
“There are also other valuable dimensions to volunteering. Volunteers get a great deal of satisfaction themselves because they know that they are making a positive contribution to society. There is an important social dimension and volunteers make new friends, learn new skills, and explore new possibilities.
“Volunteering contributes 5% to 8% of GDP while at the same time contributing to inter cultural and inter religious dialogue. It gives people new and wider perspectives and helps citizens to pursue their rights and to support fellow citizens in doing so.
“One of the important features of volunteering in recent times has been the involvement of older people. People who are living longer and in better health are keen to give back something to society by contributing experience and expertise, and volunteering is the ideal mechanism for doing this. One of my objectives for the European Year on Volunteering will be to increase the numbers of older people involved by putting in place more EU programmes for older volunteers.
“We have in Europe a number of programmes for young volunteers and, while we have a European ‘Gruntvig’ programme for older volunteers, it is limited and needs to be considerably expanded. Gruntvig was a Dane who developed the Nordic concept of learning for life which incorporated commitment to responsibility, along with personal and cultural development. Gruntvig lived to be 91, a phenomenal age in the 1800s and that says a lot for lifelong learning. In that context Age Action Ireland obviously knows what it is doing in encouraging the ‘Getting Started’ IT programme”, Marian Harkin MEP concluded.
For more information on Marian and Volunteering - click here
