In this world of political correctness, the President has apologised for something that she, as a Northern nationalist, probably believes to be true. "People in Northern Ireland transmitted to their children an irrational hatred, for example, of Catholics... " down through the years.
The reverse is also true for Protestants, who were maimed and killed at the hands of the Provisional IRA for 30 years, but she did not say so. The extent of the damage is not quantifiable now, but there is no doubt that Mrs McAleese has prejudiced the principal mission of her presidency: to build bridges with the communities in Northern Ireland.
Her mistake was how and when she said what she did. Her remarks on RTÉ's Morning Ireland last Wednesday prior to her attendance, as head of state, at the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on Thursday, were misjudged and utterly inappropriate in scale and proportion for that occasion. Unwittingly and this is clear from her personal devastation in delivering the apology she compared Northern Protestants with the Nazis, who exterminated six million Jews in the most horrendous crime in the history of humankind. The hurt caused by her remarks to all strands of unionism in Northern Ireland is understandable.
For a President who is so voluble - even loquacious - it is easy to see how she walked herself into this monumental blunder. Constitutionally required to circle around areas of Government policy, she spent most of her interview on RTÉ trying to avoid giving an apology for Eamon de Valera's action in signing the book of condolences on the death of Hitler. She was off-guard on other matters, filling in airtime.
As judgments are made on her remarks, however, it should be remembered that at every single event which President McAleese hosted in Áras an Uachtaráin in her first seven-year term - be it children, old people, farmers or fishermen - members of the unionist community in Northern Ireland were invited and attended. Some 8,000 members of the Protestant community were guests of the President on different occasions. Mrs McAleese's celebration at Áras an Uachtaráin is the only official commemoration of the Twelfth of July, North or South.
Her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, in an unpaid capacity, has conducted an extensive outreach programme with peace-makers and bridge-builders on the ground in Northern Ireland, including the UDA and the Ulster Political Research Group. Representatives of both groups attended the recent inauguration for her second term.
President McAleese has done more, in fact, to bridge the North/South divide with concrete contact than her illustrious predecessor. Unlike Mr Gerry Adams, her actions over many years speak far louder than her ill-timed, erroneous and unfortunate words on this one occasion. And they should stand to her now.