President Mary McAleese has dedicated the Christmas tree at Áras an Uachtaráin to the victims of recent floods and clerical child abuse.
Speaking at the annual tree lighting ceremony which marks the official start of Christmas, Mrs McAlesse said the recent floods have left people “living through a nightmare of loss and destruction”.
She said: “People who have seen their hopes, their incomes, their very strength swamped by the sheer brutal force of the flood waters, we are lighting this tree for all of them.”
The President also described the community effort in answer to the floods as “astounding”.
“We are lighting this tree for all those who are helping them whether professionals or the army of terrific neighbours and volunteers who have made our country so proud this past fortnight as they gave their all to help one another.”
“No one asked for a word of thanks but we surely thank them all from the bottom of our hearts.”
And while she admitted it has been a difficult year and that money is tight the President asked people with “jobs and dry homes to dig really deep” and help agencies such as the St Vincent de Paul Society and the Irish Red Cross in their assistance of flood victims.
Mrs McAleese also dedicated the tree to “all those who as children in Ireland suffered abuse and whose stories were ignored or deliberately suppressed for so long but which have now been vindicated and told out in the open.”
“May they know the gift of peace of mind this Christmas and we thank them for the courage and perseverance that brought us to face appalling truths and helped us to construct greater safeguards for the protection of children and childhoods,” she added.