Friends, On behalf of Creggan Hall Management Committee I welcome you here today. It has taken seven years work to reach this stage and today in this handover ceremony the end has finally arrived, - almost.

We thank our six funding agencies (Proteus, Rural Development Council, Newry and Mourne District Council, District Partnership Board, A.B.S.A.G./ S.A.T.I. and the Lottery Fund of the Arts Council of N.I.) for their generosity, patience and understanding throughout the lifetime of the project.

The total cost involved was £540,973 in addition to the £90,000 spent by the Dept. of Agriculture on phase one, which brings the overall public investment to £630,973.

Six funding agencies has meant six sets of application forms to be completed and six sets of correspondence, enquiries and questionnaires to be dealt with. If I tell you that just one such questionnaire has 65 questions to be answered every 6 months, you have some idea of the amount of work involved.

Today is a time to thank the Enterprise Ulster workers. The 14 labourers who did the work over a period of two years and gained skills and experience in the process. The supervisor John Egan who worked just as hard and saw that the job was done and well done. The administrator Karen Falloon who did the wages, claim forms, requisitions, and those awful questionnaires. Along with the manager of the Newry Office Bill Radcliffe and the Headquarters staff who saw it all through from start to finish. Today we see the results of your labours and we acknowledge the contribution in kind provided by Enterprise Ulster.

The overall project has been enhanced by the provision of four sculptures the work of artists David and Catherine Wilcoxson, Aine Ivers, Patrick Ward, and Michael Hogg. The second of four children's workshops associated with this part of the project takes place this afternoon.

The Poets Glen will now be leased to the District Council and we hope it will be a useful public amenity to be enjoyed by both locals and visitors alike.

Today we remember also the contribution made to this project by the late Billy Turkington our secretary and treasurer, who died in November 2000 and who shared the vision of what this place might become.

What have I learned from this project?

Minorities need their own space.

A community is impoverished when its minority disappears.

Minorities need not only to be "consulted", but have the right to be heard and listened to. They also have the right to offer their consent on general community issues. And on those occasions where they may differ from their neighbours, they will know how much they are really valued when their views are respected and upheld, rather than ignored, because such views happen to be inconvenient to the majority.

Through this project Creggan Hall Management Committee has I think learned to move beyond the "Them and Us" mentality; to move beyond all that seeks to promote division in the community by manipulating people and opinions for their own ends.

Creggan Poets Glen represents what can be achieved by a partnership between voluntary effort and the funding agencies. It also addresses the issues of Peace and Reconciliation by enabling the local tiny protestant minority to have confidence in itself, for them to provide a resource which is truly for the benefit of all, and which helps the wider community to appreciate and value the shared historical and spiritual heritage of this unique place which is Crossmaglen.