Search Results for 'Mary McAleese'

One of Athlone’s newest clubs, the Ravens Marching Band, who welcomed President Mary McAleese to St Kierans last Saturday (September 27) recently returned from their first National Championships with two trophies and a cup.

The presidential motorcade was greeted by hundreds of flag waving children from the Holy Family National School last Tuesday morning in Newport as it turned up towards Cuan Modh Day Care. After passing under a banner that traversed the Main Street welcoming the President to the town, showcasing the pride the town had in welcoming Ireland’s first citizen to their town. The community sprit that was shown by the locals was echoed and welcomed by President McAleese when she spoke at the official opening of the centre, where she remarked on the hard work and commitment put in by all the locality in getting the centre off the ground from an idea to the facility it is today.

President Mary McAleese commended community groups in Mayo this week for “creating space in their lives to grow their communities”.

Years of hard work and determination were recognised earlier this week when President of Ireland Mary McAleese officially opened the Mayo Peace Park and laid the first wreath to remember Mayo's fallen in wars across the globe. Tuesday's ceremony was the culmination of over nine years of work by chairman of the Mayo Peace Park committee Michael Feeney. From what started as a letter to a newspaper and on to a war remembrance Mass in 1999, nine years of work by Mr Feeney and his committee culminated with the official opening this week.

President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, will be out and about in Galway today for a series of engagements.

More than 60,000 calls have been received by Senior Help Line which is celebrating its 10th anniversary with its first ever national conference in Galway.

The Renmore Residents Association and the Claddagh Residents Association won awards at the 2008 Pride of Place Awards Ceremony.

President of Ireland Mary McAleese presided at a ceremony last Monday to mark the election of Achill-based visual artist Camille Souter and composer Seóirse Bodley as Saoithe in Aosdána. The honour of Saoi is bestowed for singular and sustained distinction in the arts, and Monday last the President presented both artists with the symbol of the office, a gold torc. The ceremony took place at the Arts Council’s offices at 70 Merrion Square, Dublin 2, which is also the headquarters of Aosdána.

As a person who normally jumps on the seasonal bandwagon in the lead up to Christmas, my festive spirit seems to have waned this year — a sort of Chrimbo limbo. Perhaps I’m not alone, it's a feeling of guilt that has swept into our subconscious that in this current economic meltdown that our usual Christmas madness in this chastised economy will be a bit more subdued, and surprisingly I discovered the reason I was feeling this nonchalance was that consumerism had taken such a hold over the past few years, that I had unbeknown to myself equated consumerism with Christmas. Indeed, President Mary McAleese during a speech made in Arizona this week commented that “hands on our hearts that we were all consumed by that same element of consumerism”.

2008 hasn’t been the happiest year on record.