A Thaoisigh, a dhaoine uaisle agus a chairde.
Today is an auspicious celebration because of your presence and I thank you very much for attending. When you arrived, I hope you sensed our pride in what we have done. When you leave, I want you to take with you, a stronger sense still, of the contribution and leadership Maynooth University has to offer Ireland.
Our future here is one of educational and research excellence. Our hinterland is an academic history stretching back over two hundred years.
Maynooth University is a national powerhouse in the disciplines we lead in.
We are a regional hub as the only university between Dublin and the Shannon.
We are the visionary hub of the digital future our society has already arrived at.
We are also a community of place and a community of ideas.
Our credentials are the strength of our standards and the energy of our commitment.
Today we honour our past and we celebrate our first twenty-five years as an independent university. And translating our aspirations into action, today Taoiseach, you, are formally opening our magnificent new Technology, Society, and Innovation Building (TSI). Thank you.
This is one proof of our ambition. It is another strong foundation for our future. It is from here in this inspiring setting that Maynooth University will provide world-class education to our students, innovative leadership for learning and policy making in our country and opportunities for connecting with external community, business and industry.
Twenty-five million euros for this building came through the Government's Higher Education Strategic Infrastructure Fund. That was a very important contribution. We thank the government for the support.
As many of you know I come from Finland. I share your deep belief in the power of education to change lives for the better.
I also know from years of experience how research can contribute to public policy, the wider conversation and the betterment of our society.
Now I live here in my adopted hometown of Maynooth. As a community of students and scholars, as a wider community living together in this historic town, as the university hub of Ireland’s fastest growing region, we can, and do, change lives, and we can, and do, influence change for the better.
One key strength for us at Maynooth University is the exploration of the intersection between technology and the human race. That is everything from drone technology to data privacy, and climate change. So, it is incredibly fitting that we are opening the Technology, Society Innovation Building, which showcases those strengths.
Today Maynooth University is one of the fastest growing and most diverse institutions in the country. Our enrolment has soared from 4,000 in 1997 to more than 15,000 students today. This campus has doubled in size.
And all of this is happening for a reason. For a generation, students, staff and the wider community we serve, shared a vision for what Maynooth University would become. My four fine predecessors as president made it possible for me to stand on this platform today and to lead on, where they left off.
I want to thank Professor Séamus Smith, Professor Tom Collins, Professor John Hughes and my immediate predecessor Professor Philip Nolan for all you have done. And today, Philip, I especially want to salute you for your leadership in first imagining and then delivering on this magnificent building.
To our nearest neighbour St Patrick’s Pontifical University, I acknowledge the heritage and scholarly tradition you share with us. We have come a long way together and we have much more to do together.
What the university contributes to the wider society is firstly education. It inculcates not only knowledge but enthusiasm for enquiry. It equips and enables every student to achieve their full potential and multiplies their capacity to contribute to the community.
Education is the great leveller-up. It is the natural enemy of inequality. And education inculcates values. Especially the value of truth. That standard of veracity is essential for all our endeavours, everything we do.
From tomorrow, Maynooth University begins preparing for 2047, our 50th anniversary. It will be in a profoundly changed society. The success of that society will depend on the quality of the education system we leave behind. We are heirs to a great tradition, and we must be determined to leave as our legacy a great university, and a great university system, for the future.
Go raibh maith agaibh as teacht anseo inniu.
Thank you for sharing this celebration with us today.