Foot-and-mouth disease is no threat to humans or the food chain, the President, Mrs McAleese, insisted when she met the Dallas Irish community last night on the first leg of her first official visit to Texas.
This theme, and strong exhortations to holiday in Ireland, will be taken up repeatedly by the President over the next two days as she meets business people and the media here, and in Houston, in an attempt to undo the damage that the disease has done to Ireland's reputation.
Speaking at a reception in the Crescent Court Hotel, Mrs McAleese said "the people of Ireland have rallied spectacularly and with great success to prevent the spread of the disease, and you should keep making those plans to visit Ireland". More than one million Americans, a record, were expected to visit Ireland this year, she said.
Speaking of the many reasons to visit now, not least the favourable exchange rate, she spoke of the country's "outstanding cuisine", ties of kinship, scenery and wealth of outdoor pursuits.
But in a political gaffe reminiscent of the time former President George Bush snr expressed disdain for the humble broccoli, Mrs McAleese referred to the golf course as "that bane of many a marriage", and of which there were enough fine examples "to test even the most solid of relationships" in Ireland.
Recalling Ireland's contribution to Texas, Mrs McAleese reminded her audience that the cornerstone of the San Jose mission had been laid by Hugh O'Connor, and that 40 of the 188 revered defenders of the Alamo were Irish-born or of Irish extraction.
Speaking at a breakfast organised by the American Ireland Fund, she said the new Ireland was embracing change at an extraordinary pace, and that included the "breakfast culture".
She spoke of the optimism that the peace process and economic success had brought, and paid tribute to those who had contributed to the Ireland Fund.
Later, Mrs McAleese and Dr Martin McAleese went on a private visit to the city's Kennedy Museum in Dealey Plaza, before lunch in the Museum of Art and a visit to the Henry Moore retrospective.
During the afternoon she briefed the editorial board of the Dallas Morning News.
The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey, who is part of the presidential delegation, had a meeting with Mr Harry McKillop, the right-hand man of the billionaire former presidential candidate, Mr Ross Perot.
Mrs McAleese travels to Houston today where she will address the Baker Institute at Rice University. Tomorrow she will open an international cultural festival in the city.
