Dr Cummings and Ms Ronan have dinner with President Mary McAleese.

Dr Cummings and Ms Ronan accepted an invitation from President Mary McAleese and Dr Martin McAleese to a private dinner at Aras an Uachtarain on 23rd February 2007. The President and Dr McAleese were wonderful hosts, making guests feel both welcomed and valued by greeting their visitors as the entered the “Irish White House”.

About 90 guests, from all over Ireland attended the dinner. After greeting each one individually on arrival, both the President and Dr McAleese spent time chatting to their visitors before the meal and, graciously, allowed informal photographs to be taken. Dr Cummings was able to pass on good wishes, not only from the school but in particular from Mrs Mary O’Hara, Head of Spanish. Mary T Sweeney as she was then, had been in the same class at primary school as Mary Leneghan, future President of Ireland.

President McAleese talked with Dr Cummings and Ms Ronan of her own time as a Dominican student, in St Dominic’s College, Belfast and recalled stories involving Dominican sisters who had also served in Dominican College, Portstewart.

Dinner was served in a dining room laid out with about 10 circular tables. The Dominican teachers found that, whilst they were sitting at the same table, they were at opposite sides and that they did not know any of the other guests at their table. It turned out that the tables had all been arranged in a similar way and for a very specific purpose – namely to encourage guests to chat to one another and to find out about each other. The President said that Ireland is a small island and that Irish people are all very good at “interrogating” one another to find out about each other. At her table were the Lord Mayors of Dublin and Belfast. Sure enough both Dr Cummings and Ms Ronan found their own table companions very easy to talk to. Some were from the North, some from the South. Some were in business or politics; some were friends of the President and her husband. There were just two teachers at the table!

Some readers may be interested in the actual meal which was served:

Starter: Smoked Salmon Tartar with cucumber relish

Main: Roast Supreme of Guinea Fowl with apricot and pine-nut stuffing, a piquant sauce and blueberry relish; Vegetables; Baby Potatoes with Butter and Chives; Cherry Tomatoes with Basil Cream.

Sweet: Mini Pavlova with Rhubarb Compote and Chocolate Butterscotch Sauce.

It goes without saying that the food looked good and tasted even better.

The President told guests that at occasions such as this she liked to provide opportunities for talented young Irish artists to perform and, before everyone retired to the State Reception Room for tea or coffee, the gathering was then treated to two beautiful pieces by a student from the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

In common with many other guests, both Dr Cummings and Ms Ronan picked up copies of the menu as souvenirs. Later, Dr McAleese not only signed these, but also took them to his wife for her to sign. Again both the President and her husband found plenty of time to mingle with their guests and joined Dr Cummings and Ms Ronan in further conversation. Dr Cummings asked the President how she managed to conduct the evening in such an informal way. Her disarming reply was “it’s the only way I know”. The time just flew throughout the evening and before long the Dominican pair realised that they had long since passed the supposed time to leave.

The McAleese’s were still in animate conversations, their daughters had joined the gathering and as Dr Cummings and Ms Ronan walked back along the Francine Corridor towards the Entrance Hall they realised that they had been in the company of a very special couple whose gift of “Building Bridges” was so evident.