ÁRAS:PRESIDENT BARACK Obama congratulated President Mary McAleese on the success of Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Ireland during a 20-minute discussion at Áras an Uachtaráin yesterday morning.
This was the first time the two heads of state had met. They also discussed the economic situation and the Northern Ireland peace process during the meeting.
Mr Obama said the United States would provide whatever help it could in Ireland’s current economic difficulties.
President McAleese wished him every success in his efforts to secure a peace agreement in the Middle East.
The meeting was also attended, on the US side, by first lady Michelle Obama; the US Ambassador to Ireland, Daniel Rooney; White House chief of staff Bill Daley; and National Security Council senior director Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall.
On the Irish side, President McAleese was accompanied by Dr Martin McAleese; the Irish Ambassador to the US, Michael Collins; secretary general to the President Adrian O’Neill; and deputy secretary general Loughlin Quinn.
The Obamas had arrived by helicopter in the Phoenix Park at 10am and then travelled to Áras an Uachtaráin by limousine.
The smiling couple were escorted along a corridor, lined with bronze sculptures of President McAleese’s predecessors in office, to the State reception room to sign the visitors’ book.
Chatting to the US president on the way in, President McAleese was heard to point out that she and Dr McAleese lived in a separate part of the Áras; she quipped that this area was known as “the West Wing”.
The centrepiece of the ceiling in the reception room is a plaster cast of a panel by the Lafranchini brothers from Switzerland, depicting “Time Rescuing Trust from the Assaults of Discord and Envy”.
During their visit to the Áras, the Obamas also met the McAleese twins, Justin and Saramai, who are aged 26 years.
At 11am, the Obamas and the McAleeses emerged from the Áras, chatting amiably.
Mrs Obama was heard to say, “I could spend all day with them”.
This was taken as a complimentary reference to the children who had rung the peace bell at the Áras during the tree-planting ceremony.