President Higgins marks first visit to Meath by opening new school in Navan

While generations of Navan people wove carpet designs, a different kind of weaving was now taking place in the town, the President of Ireland observed in the town on Monday morning. Michael D Higgins, on his first visit to Meath since becoming Uachtaráin na hÉireann, remarked on the different backgrounds, nationalities and stories of the pupils of the new school in Navan's Clonmagadden, off the Windtown Road on the north side of the town. "It is the rich tapestry that is the Ireland of the future," President Higgins said. He reflected on his trip to London last week, where families settling into a new place were rich in their memories and stories of their own place. With a number of commemorations of the Republic on the horizon over the coming decade, this inclusive citizenship of respect is one that we want in Ireland, the President added. Welcoming President Higgins to the school, the chairman of the board of management, Jim Corkery, said there were pupils from eastern Europe to the continent of Africa who, combined with local footballing talent, would bring Meath back in Croke Park before long.