McAleese hosts 'Twelfth' garden party

Hundreds of people from across the island of Ireland today attended the annual Twelfth of July garden party at Áras an Uachtaráin…

Hundreds of people from across the island of Ireland today attended the annual Twelfth of July garden party at Áras an Uachtaráin.

Entertainment was provided by the Pipes & Drums of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Garda band and Kintra, an Irish and Scottish traditional music group.

Addressing the guests, who numbered about 400, President Mary McAleese said the day was an opportunity to acknowledge a shared past.

“We have not always used the past wisely or well,” Ms McAleese said.

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“But we share a commitment to using the present to the best of our abilities to be more generous, respectful and caring of one another.”

She added: “This is not a day when we re-run the battle of the Boyne. History made some losers and some winners on that day.

“But there was a peace still to be made and centuries in its making.

“On this day we, their successors, are all winners, for we are the peace-makers, the peace-builders and there is no greater gift we can leave behind us.”

Among those present at the gathering were Sir Hugh Orde, chief constable of the PSNI, Fachtna Murphy Commissioner of An Garda Siochana and Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces Lt General Dermot Earley

PA