The President, Mrs McAleese, has praised the role of the European Union in transforming Ireland's image in the world from a tragic to an assertive one.
Speaking to members of the Irish community in Luxembourg at the start of a three-day visit to the European institutions, Mrs McAleese praised the work of Irish people there as unpaid ambassadors.
"Here the old image of a tragic Ireland, held back by a typical post-colonial legacy of high emigration and underachievement, gave way to a new image of an achieving and assertive Ireland," she said.
Mrs McAleese told them they played a vital role in promoting this new Ireland.
"You helped to plug us into the network of opportunity through which we grew in confidence and in pride, and through which Ireland's status in Europe and in the world soared," she added.
Mrs McAleese said that Ireland's EU presidency, which starts in January, comes at a momentous time in the EU's history.
EU membership had shown Ireland that it was only through partnership that the nation could reveal its true strength.
Earlier, the President called on Luxembourg's Grand Duke and visited the European Court of Justice, the Court of First Instance, the European Investment Bank and the Court of Auditors.
At the Court of Justice, Mrs McAleese met its president, Mr Vassilios Skouris, and Ireland's member of the court, Ms Fidelma Macken. At the Court of First Instance she met its president, Mr Bo Vesterdorf, and Ireland's member of the court, Mr John Cooke.
Mrs McAleese said there was a keen awareness in Ireland of the importance of the European Court of Justice on account of landmark judgments and preliminary judgments handed down over the years.
She noted that, with the accession of Cyprus and Malta next year, the number of EU member-states with a common-law tradition would double to four. She speculated that this could have implications for the court's work by increasing the role of judicial precedent as an aid to legal interpretation.
At the European Investment Bank, Ms McAleese met its president, Mr Philippe Maystadt, and the Irish vice-president, Mr Michael Tutty.
At the Court of Auditors, she met its president, Mr Fabra Valles, and the Irish member of the court, Mrs Maire Geoghegan-Quinn.
