The Chinese were not the only ones to celebrate the new year this week - the Royal Irish Academy of Music headed into a year of 150th anniversary celebrations with a reception on Tuesday night. Director John O'Conor's smile just got bigger and bigger as the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, said that he thought a centre for performing arts - something RIAM would be keen on - was a very good idea indeed.
It's a busy year for John and his family. He has master classes in Paris, concerts in Germany and meetings in Florida - all within the next couple of months. Meanwhile, his son, actor Hugh O'Conor, is in pre-production on a film with Har- vey Keitel in London and his wife Mary is busy with her own work as a therapist.
The Academy had the support of many people within the arts community. Raymond Keaveney, director of the National Gallery; Barbara Daw- son of the Hugh Lane; Judith Woodworth, director of the National Concert Hall; Barry Murphy of the OPW; Paddy Brennan, president of the Feis Ceoil; and Fionnuala Hunt, artistic director of the Irish Chamber Orchestra, all came along for the party.
There was also a scattering of representatives from political and diplomatic circles. The Minister for Arts and Culture, Sile de Valera - whose father performed at the Academy during the 1930s - was there, and although the Minister for Foreign Affairs, David Andrews could not make it, his wife Annette, who is a senior music examiner as well as a pupil of John O'Conor's, came along.
The British ambassador, Veronica Sutherland, was one of several diplomats present. Although many people have drawn comparisons between her and the subject of the BBC series, The Ambassador, which is about a woman ambassador to Ireland, the series was written before she got her posting, she says. Although she enjoyed actress Pauline Collins's performance, she said the series stretched credibility a little too far. "Put it this way, I've never been in one of those situations yet and I certainly wouldn't deal with them in the same way if I were!" she said.