Locals recall great memories of McAleese presidency

Tomorrow (Thursday) is the President of Ireland Mary McAleese's last day in office at Aras an Uachtarain, prior to Friday's inauguration of Michael D Higgins as her successor. President McAleese and her husband, Martin, have many connections with Meath, having lived at Moortown, outside Dunshaughlin, for some years, and they have made numerous visits to the county during her presidency. Her first official visit in the country outside of Aras an Uachtarain when she was elected in 1997 was to Dunshaughlin, just as she had promised to do during her election campaign. The McAleeses' three children, Emma, Justin and Sara-Mai, all were born during the family's time in Moortown. During that first visit back to Dunshaughlin, she was presented with a number of mementoes and gifts, including a painting by 12 year-old Ciaran Smyth, then a pupil at Dunshaughlin National School. The painting was based on the new President's inauguration speech on the theme of 'building bridges' of peace in the North, and she used it on her first Christmas card at Aras an Uachtarain. Mrs McAleese quoted from Christopher Logue's 'Come to the Edge', and this was the theme of the drawing. Ciaran, who now lives in Dublin and works at Blanchardstown Hospital, recalls there was some panic on the morning of the visit in November 1997, as the frame that St Seachnaill's NS principal Jim Gilligan had purchased wasn't the right fit for the painting. "It was too late to look for another frame, so the class set about copying the picture and painting one to fit into the frame," Ciaran recalls. "We hadn't it ready to give her when she visited the school, but we eventually caught up with her at the community college and gave it to her. "She was a lovely, pleasant woman, and I received a thank you letter afterwards, and Christmas cards for some years afterwards," he adds. Ciaran was delighted to see that the bridges that President McAleese had strived to build led to such a momentous occasion as the visit of Queen Elizabeth earlier this year, going off with so little trouble and portraying such a good image of the country abroad. It was a friend of Mary McAleese's from her Meath days, St Patrick's Classical School teacher Harry Casey, who had first suggested to the then Queens University law professor, and former broadcaster and political activist for Fianna Fail, that she run for the presidency. Her director of elections for that 1997 election was former Meath TD and government minister Noel Dempsey, whose family has remained close to the McAleeses since. The President's ADC was present at the funeral of Mr Dempsey's mother-in-law, Mary Rattigan, in Trim, earlier this year. She was also represented by her ADC at the funeral of another friend from her Meath period, the recent burial of Niall Collier in Dunsany. On a visit to Rathbeggan NS to mark its 5Oth anniversary last year, she said if things were different, her children would be going to school there, and she has maintained close links with families around the Dunshaughlin area. Rathbeggan children were at her first inauguration, along with schoolchildren from Kells. Young Cassandra Pryle from Navan was a special guest at the inauguration. The then eight-year old had been due to dance for Mrs McAleese when she made a campaign visit to Manchester, but had broken her leg three days beforehand. Meath County Council held a civic reception for the President during her first term, and she and her husband are close to the Bishop of Meath, Dr Michael Smith, a regular golfing partner of Martin McAleese. Local appointees to President McAleese's Council of State have been Martin Naughton of Stackallen House, during her first term, and Skryne woman Anastasia Crickley, head of the Department of Applied Social Studies at NUI Maynooth, as well as Daraine Mulvihill, Ashbourne, a former Meath Personality Of The Year, for her second term. Her last official engagement in the county was at Killeen Castle, Dunsany, when she attended the opening ceremony of the Solheim Cup event between Europe and the United States in September, and an area she said she had enjoyed cycling around with her family when they lived in neighbouring Dunshaughlin. At the Killeen ceremony, MC Maura Derrane paid tribute to President and Dr Martin McAleese's work in Aras an Uachtarain and in hosting the visits of Queen Elizabeth and Barack Obama earlier this year. RTE's recent documentary of the McAleese presidency, 'The Constant President' featured Pauline Doran from Dunshaughlin, a member of the Presidential support team at Aras an Uachtaran, who will be working with her third President following Friday's inauguration of Michael D Higgins.