In keeping with the big theme of her campaign, Catherine Connolly’s first official visit as the new President of Ireland was a visit to a Gaelscoil and a chance to have another keepie-uppies moment.
During the President’s visit to Gaelscoil Inse Chór on Wednesday, a football was produced. We suspect at least some of her work over the next seven years will involve ball skills.
The match report on that will come a little later.
First, though, was the céad míle fáilte from the 220 pupils, their teachers and dozens of proud parents.
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The Gaelscoil is situated inside one of Dublin’s most beautiful oases, the National War Memorial Gardens, nestled on the banks of the Liffey.
The school pulled out all the stops. Every pupil had painted their own tricolour which they waved furiously as they stood in line when the presidential car arrived. “Catherine Conn-olly, Catherine Conn-olly”, they chanted in a cacophony of noise which would not have been out of place at Croke Park.
The President, dressed in a simple navy trouser-suit, took time to talk to as many of the children as she could.
“Cén aois a bhfuil tú anois?” she asked one second-class girl. “Sé ach tá mo bhreithlá ag teacht. Beidh mé seacht.”
“Bhuel, ní bheidh aon obair bhaile agat anocht.”
School principal Colm Ó Nualláin and his team arranged the visit thematically across the lovely school grounds. Ms Connolly and her husband, Brian McEnery, met Comhairle na nDaltaí (the student council), An Coiste Glas (the green committee), an club fichille (the chess club), and na foirne peil, iománaíochta agus camógai (the football, hurling and camogie teams).
Each group performed a “show and tell” for the President, including outdoor chess and five-a-side games.
Talking to one of the camogie players, Ms Connolly recalled a time when she competed in a triathlon and realised she had no cycling helmet for the race. It meant she had to improvise.
“[Tháinig mé] ar chlogad iománaíochta agus d’úsaid me é don rothaíocht,” she said. (“I found a hurling helmet and I wore that for the cycling.”)
Inside, the President visited the Naioneán Mhóra (senior infants) class where the kids were more absorbed in their projects (including an Áras made of building blocks) than with the enormous entourage, including media, that came into the room.
In the school hall, singers and musicians gave a brilliant rendition of Pádraig Ó Conghaile’s song Conamara (a staple for any teenager who spent three weeks in the Gaeltacht) and then there was Irish dancing. Mr Ó Nualláin introduced the President, saying the school was proud to be the location for her first engagement.
Ms Connolly has made the promotion of Irish one of her key projects, along with disability rights and young people. It was no accident that she chose a visit to a Gaelscoil as her first official duty.
Her short address, delivered in Irish, chimed closely with her inauguration speech.
She said the language had, for many years, been regarded as an “afterthought”. Irish, she said, was an advantage, a gift.
“Ba mhaith liom Gaeilge a chur i lár an aonaigh.” (“I would like to put Irish in the middle of the fair.”)
She praised Gaelscoil Inse Chór for its approach of using immersive education in Irish for the first two years, with English-language learning being introduced only in first class.
She said she liked the slogan on the school wall about climate change: “Every small step answers the big question.”
And the keepie-uppies?
Four transition-year students from Coláiste an Phiarsaigh in Rathfarnham (all former pupils) were there to help coach the pupils. The four lined up to meet the President.
Ms Connolly did not reprise her viral moment but left it to the four to do their best. In a pressurised situation, they each did about 10, but Tadhg Mac Fiachra got bonus points because his included a bit of Cristiano Ronaldo flair.
Sadly, as yet, a phrase in Irish for “keepie-uppie” has not yet been coined. The slightly prosaic “coinnigh suas í” is the only thing that comes to mind.
Just a few metres down the road is St John of God’s School, which caters for students with learning disabilities. About 20 students and their teachers lined the road to wave at the President as the motorcade passed. She stopped her car and got out to greet each of them.
The huge welcome for the President in Inchicore was genuine and reflected an election victory that has the potential to be a pivotal moment in the country’s history.
For now, there is an enormous feelgood factor surrounding the President. The big question is whether or not the combined left can keepie-uppie that momentum into the next election cycle?
