The Lord Mayor of Dublin has said that Irish society can learn a lot about integration from children, who he believes are often more tolerant of people from different backgrounds than adults.
Cllr Vincent Jackson made the comments at the Keep the Ball Alive intercultural primary school basketball event, held last Thursday as part of Social Inclusion Week 2007.
The event, the first of its kind, saw over 100 children from nine south-west inner city Dublin primary schools face off against each other in the Oblates basketball arena in Inchicore.
The Dublin City Council-funded project was the brainchild of Nigerian Jacob Nwazota, co-ordinator at the Canal Communities Intercul-tural Centre in Goldenbridge.
Nwazota, who believes the non-Irish national population of the Canal Communities area of Dublin (comprising the suburbs or Inchicore, Bluebell, Kilmainham and Islandbridge) may now be as high as one in five, said: “Even though there are just nine schools represented, between them, they have children from all over the world.”
Cllr Jackson, who is a member of Dublin City Council, added: “Children have a way of looking past colour, age and nationality to see the person beyond, as God made them. They don’t see colour, they just see their friends.”
He continued: “We can all learn something from this outlook and if we do, it will make for a better Ireland.”
The councillor also pointed to the mammoth task facing Irish society if it is to develop into a fully integrated nation: “There will be a lot of work involved in bringing about the society we want. If you want to grow vegetables you don’t just throw a few seeds on the ground and expect cabbages that September.
“You have to put in the work if you want to see the benefits.”
Cllr Jackson also warned of the dangers of failing to integrate minority groups saying, “We have seen what has happened in countries in which people are segregated, and we all know what it leads to.”
The Keep the Ball Alive basketball project, which was organised in association with Basketball Ireland, has been six weeks in the planning.
“We have been sending basketball instructors out to the various schools, many of which had no basketball set up at all, to help the children to prepare for today’s event,” said Nwazota.
The event, the first of its kind, saw over 100 children from nine south-west inner city Dublin primary schools face off against each other in the Oblates basketball arena in Inchicore.
The Dublin City Council-funded project was the brainchild of Nigerian Jacob Nwazota, co-ordinator at the Canal Communities Intercul-tural Centre in Goldenbridge.
Nwazota, who believes the non-Irish national population of the Canal Communities area of Dublin (comprising the suburbs or Inchicore, Bluebell, Kilmainham and Islandbridge) may now be as high as one in five, said: “Even though there are just nine schools represented, between them, they have children from all over the world.”
Cllr Jackson, who is a member of Dublin City Council, added: “Children have a way of looking past colour, age and nationality to see the person beyond, as God made them. They don’t see colour, they just see their friends.”
He continued: “We can all learn something from this outlook and if we do, it will make for a better Ireland.”
The councillor also pointed to the mammoth task facing Irish society if it is to develop into a fully integrated nation: “There will be a lot of work involved in bringing about the society we want. If you want to grow vegetables you don’t just throw a few seeds on the ground and expect cabbages that September.
“You have to put in the work if you want to see the benefits.”
Cllr Jackson also warned of the dangers of failing to integrate minority groups saying, “We have seen what has happened in countries in which people are segregated, and we all know what it leads to.”
The Keep the Ball Alive basketball project, which was organised in association with Basketball Ireland, has been six weeks in the planning.
“We have been sending basketball instructors out to the various schools, many of which had no basketball set up at all, to help the children to prepare for today’s event,” said Nwazota.
