President Mary McAleese successfully concluded what threatened to be a difficult visit to Belfast yesterday where, in very different circumstances, she met children, parents and teachers from the Shankill and later a similar grouping from loyalist south Belfast.
Children from Edenbrooke Primary School on the loyalist Shankill in west Belfast met the President at the Wellington Park Hotel on Malone Road in the south of the city yesterday morning, after she was forced to cancel a planned visit to the school.
Memories of her comments in January appearing to equate almost Nazi-type sectarian sentiments with Protestant parents, together with UVF-orchestrated rioting on the Shankill and tensions over an Orange Order parade on Saturday, left her with no option but to cancel that visit to Edenbrooke school.
However, President McAleese was able to visit the primary school on the loyalist Taughmonagh estate where the dominant paramilitary force is the UDA. She received a friendly welcome from Jackie McDonald, the so-called UDA brigadier in south Belfast, which helped to ensure that the visit went ahead without protest.
Principal of Edenbrooke school Betty Orr welcomed President McAleese to the Wellington Park Hotel, where among the special guests was the Northern Ireland soccer manager Lawrie Sanchez. Several parents refused to allow their children attend, but over 20 children sang and performed on African drums for the President.
President McAleese, accompanied by her husband Martin, paid tribute to Mr Sanchez and the Northern Ireland team. She said the "lovely welcome" from the children, parents and teachers meant a lot to her. She was meeting the "children of neighbours' children" because she was reared close to the Shankill in north Belfast.
"One of the great hopes that I have is that these children and every one of the children who walks the city's streets will grow up in love and respect for one another," she added.
Mrs McAleese said the children's "fantastic" parents and teachers wanted their talents to shine and grow in an atmosphere of harmony and peace. She also spoke on how diversity must be viewed in a positive, constructive light.
"I would not like to grow up and always be in the company of people who thought like me, acted like me, and believed exactly the same things as me. To be very different is something to be grateful for because that is the world that God gave us," added President McAleese.
The President then drove to Taughmonagh Primary School where she was greeted by school principal Janet Douds and UDA leader Mr McDonald, an occasional golfing partner of Mr McAleese.
She toured the classes and sat and chatted with the children who also sang for her. Ms Douds said of the 177 pupils at the school only one was prevented by her parents from meeting the President. "I have been here over 15 years and I never ever dreamed that we would have the Irish President in the midst of Taughmonagh Primary School. It has been wonderful for the children ," she added.
Mr McDonald said President McAleese's presence was a "morale-booster" for the Taughmonagh estate and the school, which is in the middle of a rebuilding programme and needs funds for computers and a library.
He said the President could not have travelled to the Shankill when Orangemen were being prevented from parading to their Whiterock hall on the nationalist Springfield Road through the normal Workman Avenue route on Saturday.
But there was no such difficulty or issue in Taughmonagh, added Mr McDonald.
President McAleese yesterday also visited the Aquinas Grammar School and the Nazareth House Care Village on Ravenhill Road in east Belfast.
