An idyllic vision of an island of Ireland where the nationalist and unionist cultures would peacefully mingle and enrich each other has been painted by the President, Mrs McAleese, as the likely outcome of the Northern Ireland peace process.
She took advantage of the opening of the Arts from Ireland festival at the Kennedy Centre to point to the significance of the coming weeks for the cultural and political future of a divided Ireland drawing together under the Good Friday agreement.
"We gather together at an auspicious time when the hopes of moving far beyond the politics of distrust and conflict into an uncharted era of consensus and partnership may at last be realised," the President told an audience which included the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, Senator Edward Kennedy and the Secretary of Education, Mr Richard Riley.
"The artificial barriers which have prevented generations of Catholic and Protestant, unionist and nationalist, in Ireland from recognising their shared cultural heritage and enjoying their different cultural expressions will soon, please God, come tumbling down."
The President, in a second address yesterday when opening a conference on "Ireland: Politics, Culture and Identity", returned to the theme.
She told participants that "within the past few days, the political landscape in Northern Ireland has altered dramatically and with it the mood has shifted from gloom to hope, admittedly not for the first time, but this time quite possibly for the last time.
"If, as we all hope, May 22nd sees the new political dispensation finally up and running, then these days in which this conference is taking place will quickly come to be seen as both a watershed and a bridgehead to a landscape in which politics, identity and culture in Ireland will be altered beyond all recognition."
Mrs McAleese spoke of "a cultural dividend from the peace process" as well as an economic one.
This could lead to "an explosion of cultural energy and imagination between the traditions".
"In the new landscape unionist and nationalist will dare to be curious about each other, to reveal to each other the side masked by conflict and its barbed language," she said.
"A new generation of bewildered poets, writers, scholars will trace the emergence of this landscape" as it grows in a world dominated by "a European Union double the size it is today, a developing world that will not have gone away, the relentless advance of women, the visible retreat of organised religion, a devolved Scotland, a devolved Wales, a modern Celtic axis, a dwindling Anglo-centricity".
Mrs McAleese paid tribute to President Clinton for "his deep and personal interest in our search for peace".
"His role has been of critical importance in enabling us to secure progress at many difficult and sensitive times. Without him, I have no doubt, we would not have come so far," and he would always be "a welcome visitor to Ireland".
Through Mr Clinton and Senator George Mitchell "a new language of political engagement was learned in Ireland, a new way of listening to each other was introduced and, crucially, a new relationship of trust was struck between the US and the unionist community.
"The North's unionists started out sceptical of American involvement, but steady and conscientious even-handedness not only convinced them of the genuine, unbiased bona fides of the US but set the scene for the development of a new set of shared memories."