Three hundred and fifty guests enjoyed band music, Irish and Ulster-Scots dancing, canapés and a respite from the rain for the evening as they attended the 10th annual Twelfth of July garden party at Áras an Uachtaráin yesterday.
They heard President Mary McAleese say that since she and her husband Dr Martin McAleese hosted their first garden party in 1998 "each year the political backdrop in Northern Ireland was different, sometimes it was grim, sometimes it was hope-filled, but this year has been the year of hope and hard work rhyming, to paraphrase Seamus Heaney".
She told guests from North and South that "the route by which we have arrived at this juncture involved dreadful pain, loss and hardship for many people and in our joy at these happier times it is important we remember and support those whose lives have been robbed of joy by those years of failure". The President added: "We are all of us on a journey of recovery, trying to find the friendship that eluded us, the trust that could have shortened the journey to peace, the shared memories that knit strangers into good neighbours."
Sammy Douglas, an east Belfast community activist, paid tribute to the McAleeses. "If they have done anything they have assured the unionist community that there is no threat from the Republic. They have extended the hand of friendship." They had visited hardline loyalist communities "and they have been welcomed with open arms". Mr Douglas asked them to continue their work because there were still so many problems.
Guests were entertained by the dancers and a composite band of pipers from the Defence Forces who played with musicians of the 2nd battalion of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment.
While members of the Defence Forces have played with British security force bands at Somme commemorations this was a first in the Republic.
