One of the key architects of last year's Special Olympics has been appointed to the Council of State by the President.
One of seven personal appointments by Mrs McAleese, Ms Mary Davis, who currently leads Special Olympics Ireland, was chief executive of the hugely successful 2003 Special Olympics held in Croke Park. She has received many honours for her work with the disabled, including honorary degrees from the NUI, University of Limerick and Dublin City University.
One of Fine Gael's two trustees, Mr Enda Marren, has also been appointed to the body which offers "aid and counsel" to the President, along with Senator Martin Mansergh. A director the Rehab group, Mr Marren is a well-known solicitor. He was a member of the first Law Reform Commission and helped to found the Irish committee of UNICEF.
The former chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party's Council, Col Harvey Bicker, who was one of the guests from Northern Ireland at her recent inauguration, has also accepted a place. A retired lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Irish Regiment, he recently stood down from Down District Council after eight years service.
Ms Anastasia Crickley, the chairwoman of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism and a lecturer with the Applied Social Studies Centre in NUI Maynooth, will also join the council.
A Belfast-based solicitor, Mr Denis Moloney, who is also professor of law at the University of Ulster, will also serve. He is involved with numerous charities and serves on the North's Probation Service, the Northern Ireland Eastern Health and Social Services Board and the General Medical Council in the North. A DCU student, Ms Daráine Mulvihill, who lost both her legs below the knee and all of her fingers after she contracted meningitis in 1999, is also honoured. She was named as the Irish Young Person of the Year in 2001.
The ex-officio members of the Council are the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern; the Tánaiste, Ms Harney; the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Murray; the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Finnegan; the Ceann Comhairle, Dr Rory O'Hanlon; the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Senator Rory Kiely, and the Attorney General, Mr Rory Brady.
The advisory body also includes former Presidents Dr Patrick J. Hillery and Mrs Mary Robinson and former taoisigh Mr Liam Cosgrave, Dr Garret FitzGerald, Mr Charles Haughey, Mr John Bruton and Mr Albert Reynolds.
Also on the council are former chief justices Mr Justice Thomas Finlay and Mr Justice Ronan Keane.
Outgoing members not reappointed are Sister Stanislaus Kennedy; Ms Ruth Curtis; Ms Christina Carney Flynn; Munster MEP Mr Brian Crowley; Mr Noel Stewart; Mr Martin Naughton and Mr Gordon Brett.