The impulse towards inclusiveness, partnership and co-operation has served Ireland well, the President, Mrs McAleese, told the St Patrick's Day reception at Aras an Uachtarain yesterday.
"It underpins Ireland's reputation among the international community as a valued friend and good neighbour to small and large countries alike."
It was manifest, too, in Ireland reaching out to the "global Irish community" whose place within the wider Irish family was now formally recognised within the Constitution.
The President had a "warm and heartfelt thank you" for the commitment and hard work of diverse groups, often undertaken quietly behind the scenes: from the public servants who had helped forge "a successful and self-confident Ireland" to all who had helped to make the State a respected member of the international community. In addition, she commended, all who had worked to strengthen cross-Border co-operation on the island, "creating new synergies, new networks of common interest and friendship, new ways of working together" to the benefit of all.
It was widely accepted that the political process was at a difficult juncture, "but we can draw hope from the fact that the peace process goes wider and deeper than its political dimension. It is driven and it is owned by the people on this island."
Its strength could be measured, she said, by the reality of daily life, in the way that old taboos and barriers had started to be dismantled, in new relationships and in the new ways that people interacted.
All these developments were at the heart of the peace process and its bedrock, said Mrs McAleese. "They are a source of hope and encouragement as the work to create lasting peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland continues."