`Twelfth' party planned for Aras

The President, Mrs McAleese, plans to celebrate the two major holidays on the island, March 17th and July 12th, with parties at Aras an Uachtarain.

In her first public initiative to mark the "bridge-building" theme of her Presidency, she will invite members of the nationalist and unionist communities in the North to receptions in the Park. The evenings will feature a showcase of the best artistic and musical talent, North and South.

Mrs McAleese said she was having "enormous success" with groups from the North who in the past would have perhaps baulked at the idea of coming to the Aras. In a wide-ranging interview in today's Irish Times, the President admits she was "very annoyed indeed" by a report that her public engagements were few and far between in her first 100 days, more like Dr Patrick Hillery's than Mrs Mary Robinson's.

"I was appalled at the implications for Paddy Hillery", she said. "I thought that this was insulting and unnecessary, but also I knew that it did not stack up."

She also indicated that she was considering revising her public diary in the wake of the recent controversy.

Mrs McAleese confirmed that she had deliberately set out to dispense with some of the "grey starchiness" of the office. She has changed the protocol for ambassadors receiving their credentials and for judges being appointed, and has invited members of their families to the Aras on such occasions.

The President declined to talk directly about the controversy engendered by her decision to receive Communion at a Church of Ireland service in December. One of the first things she did after her inauguration, she said, was to write to all the churches saying that she would like to come and worship with them.

"I am the President of all the people, and although I have membership of one denomination of which I am very proud, I am a person who wants to show in every way a real respect, a real awe, a real reverence for other people's faith," she continued.

She invited herself to each of the denominations and had been to most of the services now. "They are proving a great source of friendship-building and confidence-building and they will be repeated."