ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN:QUEEN ELIZABETH was greeted by President Mary McAleese and was accorded full military honours yesterday after she arrived at Áras an Uachtaráin for the opening engagement of her four-day State visit to Ireland.
She planted an Irish oak to mark her visit to the Áras before attending a lunch attended by, among others, former SDLP leader John Hume and former Northern Ireland first minister David Trimble.
Following an introduction to Taoiseach Enda Kenny, the Queen chatted amiably with the President before they walked together to the Áras’s State reception room, where the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh signed the visitors book. While signing the book Prince Philip light-heartedly checked with the President’s husband, Dr Martin McAleese, about whether he should add the date of the visit beside his name.
From there, President and Dr McAleese escorted the royal couple to the entrance hall where they were met by Defence Forces’ chief of staff, Lieut Gen Seán McCann and GOC 2nd Eastern Brigade, Brig Gen Denis Murphy.
The party was then escorted outside where a guard of honour from the 2nd Eastern Brigade, the Air Corps and the Naval Service, commanded by Capt Thomas Holmes from Naas, Co Kildare, presented arms and the Irish and British national anthems were played.
Following a private meeting in the Áras’s drawing room, President McAleese and Queen Elizabeth left for the formal gardens, pausing to inspect a tree planted by Queen Victoria during one of her visits to the building during its time as the Vice-Regal Lodge.
The Queen was then introduced to the Áras’s head gardener, Robert Norris, before she planted an Irish Fastigiate oak, described as the upright form for the common oak. A plaque is to be erected in front of the tree, which stands close to one planted by US president John F Kennedy during his visit in 1963 and others planted by Eamon De Valera and others.
A fanfare was played by three Defence Forces buglers when the tree-planting was complete.
The nearby peace bell was rung during the brief ceremony by 16-year-old Danny Rea, who attends the Northern Ireland Jordanstown School for the deaf or visually impaired and by Leah Ennis McLoughlin, who attends St Mary’s School for Deaf Girls in Cabra, adjacent to the Phoenix Park. The two were then introduced to Queen Elizabeth, who chatted with them for a time.
The President and the Queen then returned into the Áras for a private lunch attended by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore, British foreign secretary William Hague, Ireland’s Ambassador to Britain Bobby McDonagh and his wife Mary, former SDLP leader John Hume and his wife Pat, and former Northern Ireland first minister and Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble.
The guests also included sports commentator Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh, pianist Barry Douglas, DUP MLA Sammy Douglas, writer Edna O’Brien, chef Rachel Allen, social campaigner Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, Alliance Party MLA Anna Lo, Prof Louise Richardson, secretary general to President McAleese Adrian O’Neill, and NUI Maynooth lecturer in social policy studies, Seamus Taylor.
Queen Elizabeth was accompanied by, among others, Mr Hague; British ambassador to Ireland Julian King; her private secretary, the Right Hon Christopher Geidt; her deputy private secretary Edward Young; and Brig Archie Miller-Bakewell, private secretary to the Duke of Edinburgh.