The President, Mrs Robinson, ended her last full day of public engagements yesterday with a visit to Shillelagh, Co Wicklow, where she opened a new unit of 15 homes for the disabled on behalf of Ardeen Cheshire Homes, of which she is the Irish patron.
It was, she said, a particularly significant engagement, as it demonstrated "in a very marked way" the growth in support for independent living which she had seen over the past seven years.
The President was presented with a gold feather by Mr Mark Blake-Knox on behalf of Ardeen Cheshire Homes. The residents and staff presented her with a shillelagh.
Accepting good wishes for her United Nations appointment, the President said that she still had "the small matter of packing to do".
A symbolic farewell for Mrs Robinson takes place today at Loop Head lighthouse in Co Clare. Musicians Andrew and Jenny Robinson, brother and sister-in-law of the President's husband, will take part in the event, which is organised by the western branch of the National Women's Council of Ireland. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the lighthouse bell will ring and the presidential flag will be lowered and replaced by the UN flag.
Mrs Robinson's last public engagement is at 10.30 a.m. today, when she will open a housing project for Focus Ireland. At noon, she will sign the instrument of resignation at Aras an Uachtarain. At 1 p.m. she ceases to be President and takes up the position of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She will then leave for Dublin Airport to board a flight to Geneva, where the UN office is based.
