President Mary McAleese was reminded of the power of the people yesterday when she asked the students of the Muslim National School in Clonskeagh to vote on having one day without homework.
"That's democracy," joked the school's principal, Colm McGlade, after a landslide vote in favour. As the State waits for the President to signal the beginning of an election campaign, this was as close as we were going to get for now.
Mrs McAleese's visit marked the 15th anniversary of the school's opening in Clonskeagh.
The first state-funded Muslim school in Britain or Ireland, it originally opened on the South Circular Road in 1990 with two teachers and 40 pupils. Today, the Clonskeagh premises holds 300 pupils, and 150 children have applied for the 35 places available in next year's junior infants class. The school has recently been given permission to expand.
Mrs McAleese began with a visit to five classrooms, where she was greeted with songs and poems in Arabic, Irish and English.
Nusaybah Suleiman, a pupil in third class, introduced her classmates as they sang a Ghanaian farmers' song. And sixth-class pupils grilled the President during a question and answer session. Did she ever dream of growing up and becoming president? asked Jaffar Al-Saleh. "No," answered Mrs McAleese. "I grew up in Belfast and they didn't have presidents up there."
In senior infants the discussion was on the more immediate topic of "wobbly teeth". "I'm married to a dentist," she told the children. "So I love tooth stories."
Later, in the assembly hall, Mrs McAleese addressed staff, parents and pupils. Greeting them with "salam alaykum [ peace be with you]", she told the children that they were "tremendous ambassadors for Ireland and tremendous ambassadors for Islam".
She called on people of different beliefs to come together to build "the best Ireland ever" and added that Islam needed to be explained in the modern world because the Irish had "cause to know how ignorance festers".
Mrs McAleese's visit, and message, were important, said Mr McGlade. "There is a very negative image of Islam. Maybe not in Ireland, but in the West in general, because, I suppose, of recent happenings.
"It is a real pity, because I've been here for 17 years and have found the vast majority of parents to be good people, interested in the education of their children and living here in peace and harmony with their Irish neighbours. And to bring that message contained in her speech was very relevant indeed."
