For many, Handel's Messiah is an essential part of the true spirit of Christmas and the National Concert Hall was packed out all week when Our Lady's Choral Society put on its annual performance. The President, Mrs McAleese, went on Wednesday night, with her three children, Emma, Justin and Sarah-Mai, and seemed to enjoy hugely the performance.
At the interval she went backstage and chatted with members of the choir who presented her with a bound score of the Messiah - Mrs McAleese was herself a chorister. Sitting just a few feet away from her was Archbishop Desmond Connell, who has been so trenchantly critical of her recent reception of Communion at Christ Church Cathedral, but neither seemed inclined towards a theological debate.
Throughout the week, the Messiah performances attracted the usual high-flying crowd including Mary Banotti MEP and her daughter Tania; the Australian ambassador, Edward J. Stevens; the German ambassador, Horst Pakowski, and the French cultural counsellor, Andre Raynouard. Also there was Archbishop Walton Empey; Sister Stanislaus Kennedy of Focus Point, who was recently appointed to the Council of State; broadcaster and barrister Cynthia Ni Mhurchu, and the Dublin City manager, John Fitzgerald.