Paralympians get the presidential treatment

A STATE reception was the least the Irish Paralympic team deserved, according to the Taoiseach Enda Kenny, and a State reception is what they got yesterday afternoon.

Nearly half the Cabinet turned out at Farmleigh House to honour Team Ireland, who brought home eight gold, three silver and five bronze medals from London.

The medal haul means Ireland was ranked fourth in the world in terms of per capita success at the Paralympic Games.

If lavishing praise were an Olympic sport, the Taoiseach would be representing Ireland.

“For two weeks you gave us pride, class, inspiration and joy. Your performance, your attitude and results are all about ability,” he said. “It was the ability to adapt, to excel and to succeed. Above all, this magnificent adventure has been about shining among some of the best sports people in the world.”

He even referred to the Olympic Games as “the other Olympics”. Also in attendance were Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, Minister for Sport Leo Varadkar, Minister for Health James Reilly, Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald and Minister for Social Protection Joan Bruton.

The members of the team were in high spirits after a dizzying week of celebrations and homecomings.

Double gold medallists Jason Smyth and Michael McKillop are room-mates and something of a double act. In front of the Taoiseach and for the cameras they re-enacted the now famous shot of Usain Bolt and Mo Farah doing each others’ routines. McKillop did the Mobot and Smyth, the fastest Paralympian on the planet, the lightning bolt.

They were the big attractions for the hundreds of schoolgirls from Mount Sackville Secondary School who assembled on the driveway of Farmleigh in Dublin to provide a welcoming party.

Bethany Firth (16), who is still in school herself, was also surrounded by schoolgirls looking to have their picture taken with her gold medal for swimming.

She’s off to do a cookery course, followed by a sporting course, with a view to competing in the able-bodied Commonwealth Games and swimming world championships.

All three gold medal winners from the North are being honoured by having their local post boxes painted gold by Royal Mail. After winning his first gold medal, Smyth sent out a “wee tweet” wondering why the honour was being bestowed on Team GB gold medal winners and not those representing Team Ireland from Northern Ireland. After some discreet lobbying, the anomaly has been put right.

McKillop, who won double gold in the T37 (for cerebral palsy athletes) 800m and 1,500m, said his mother told him she loved him when she presented him with a gold medal in the Olympic Stadium. “Those special words were something I will never forget,” he said.

McKillop is adjusting to life in Ireland as a household name. Two functions on Thursday night, the Late Late Show last night, a gala dinner tonight and a motivational speech in London on Monday is now his lot.

Double gold medallist in cycling Mark Rohan said he never imagined Ireland would embrace Paralympic sport the way it has done. Coming home has allowed him to “eat s**t food” after three months of intensive work and have a good session in a pub in his local village of Ballinahown, Co Westmeath.

Gold medal winning swimmer Darragh McDonald (18) was given a hero’s return on Tuesday at Gorey Community School in Co Wexford. On Monday he returns to do his Leaving Cert.