During 10 years at Aras an Uachtaráin, President McAleese, the longest serving head of state in the world, has done us proud, fulfilling her official duties with punctiliousness, while reaching out to the marginalised and the alienated in an effort to make this society a better place in which to live. Much of the work she and her husband, Martin, have done has gone unnoticed. She has won around many of those who feared her succession to Mary Robinson.
Progressive views on homosexuality and the ordination of women priests mark her independent thinking, while an ambition to host the first visit by Queen Elizabeth to this State reflects a desire to bury old animosities. As a former businesswoman, she offers her time and her office to the promotion of Irish industry abroad, most recently on trips to Canada and New Zealand.
"Building bridges" was the central theme of her inaugural address on being elected in 1997. And while she gave offence to some Catholics by taking communion in a Church of Ireland cathedral and to Northern Protestants for her comments about traditional, sectarian attitudes towards Catholics, the incidents did not damage the overall project. Her predecessor, Mary Robinson, had reached out to Irish emigrants, reminded them of their history and hardships and offered a welcoming candle in an Aras window. Mrs McAleese threw open the doors of the house to members of the divided Northern community. Loyalists came South to experience unstinting hospitality and an invitation to address destructive attitudes. In all, 13,000 Northern visitors have made that journey.
Four years remain of the uncontested second term that President McAleese secured in 2004. During that period, our society is likely to undergo considerable stress as the economy slows and efforts are made to provide for the large number of immigrants that have settled here. Mrs McAleese has already contributed to a public debate on what should be done and how change will be required of us all. In her words, there can be no "them and us" in this exercise. There is, in her view, only "us".
Operating within the constraints of a largely ceremonial office, where speeches are vetted by Government, is constraining. Successive presidents have sought a greater degree of flexibility, but to little avail. In 1999, it seemed that might change when Mrs McAleese was invited to address both Houses of the Oireachtas on her hopes for Irish society as it moved into the new millennium. She spoke of peace on the island, the sharing of wealth, a broad social agenda and the integration of immigrants. They were all central to our political development. Since then, she has addressed the theme of suicide, the drink culture, the position of youth, and, as always with her husband, the new future for Northern Ireland.
On her 10th anniversary, a fresh invitation should be offered to her to establish a consensus on the social, economic and cultural challenges facing this island.