Since Tuesday, 16-year-old Paul Barnes from Finglas has camped in the wild, flown in a helicopter, met the President, hiked through mountains and rescued a woman who had injured her leg and was suffering from hypothermia.
Well, she hadn't really been suffering from hypothermia. The mock rescue was part of a four-day physical exercise for Paul and 23 other applicants for Gaisce, the President's Award, the purpose of which is to encourage young people to attain a level of skill in four demanding areas: the community, personal skills, recreation and venture activities.
The 24 applicants, aged between 16 and 22, made a spectacular entrance, arriving at Blessington Land and Water Sports Adventure Centre in Army Rangers Intruder boats yesterday morning.
They met the President, Mrs McAleese, and gave her a demonstration of what they were doing for the past three days, under the guidance of the Eastern Command of the Defence Forces, by abseil ing a 60-ft embankment, then pulling themselves back up. Capt John Murphy of the Air Corps said this was "mild, quite tame" compared to what they were used to.
The President asked what was the worst part of the adventure. "Getting up early" was, by common consent, the worst, but the high-calorie food wasn't too bad. The adventure centre did not look like a tourist attraction, with only Army Range Rovers and helicopters in the car park. Soon after the President's departure, the helicopters left, the Range Rovers were loaded up and the applicants canoed towards the next challenge, an obstacle course.