PARENT POWER: "Forty years ago this week, I came to Ireland with my brother, John F Kennedy, and the first words that Éamon de Valera said to us on arrival was 'Céad Míle Fáilte'.
"Forty years later, I'm proud to have returned to Ireland, to a place where people with intellectual disabilities need no longer feel ashamed of them, and where this last week there has been a Céad Míle Fáilte for all our athletes."
That was the declaration Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver made to sustained cheering at the Point on Thursday evening.
She congratulated the organising committee and the people of Ireland for hosting the Games and for creating "a new kind of glory" for the event. "If you seek joy, come and see the Special Olympics. There can no longer be any doubt that people with intellectual disabilities can achieve anything."
The Point has seen many a celebrity over the years, but perhaps no more heartfelt standing ovation was ever given under its roof than the one the estimated 3,000 parents of Special Olympic athletes gave to Eunice Kennedy Shriver after her short and powerful speech.
She was speaking at a special reception for parents of athletes, which has been hosted by USA organisation Clipped Wings, at every Special Olympics since 1987. Clipped Wings is composed of past and present United Airlines air hostesses, and the evening's presenter was Barbara Boll Bertacini, its current national president.
Among the speakers was Mary Davis, CEO of the Special Olympics, who used the opportunity to call for an Irish rights-based Bill for people with disabilities. She paid warm tribute to Ms Kennedy Shriver: "Special Olympics is a family movement which was started by a family," she said, presenting her with a striking piece of Waterford Crystal.
The presentation was made on behalf of the Irish chairman of the Games, Denis O'Brien, who was in the audience, as was the new chairman of Special Olympics worldwide, Tim Shriver, Ms Kennedy Shriver's son.
Entertainment was provided by members of Carlow's Delta Centre and St Laserian's Special School, as well as children from the Carlow Young Artists Choir and Carlow Stage School along with musical animator David Jackson.
