The ILE and Tea at Áras an Uachtaráin

On Wednesday, the Irish Life Experience received a very special invitation from the President of Ireland. While President McAleese was away in Kerry for her holidays, she graciously opened her home to us and arranged a special tour for our students, complete with coffee, tea, and scones with jam. Dressed in our Sunday's best, we were greeted by the Secretary General to the President, Adrian O'Neill. He welcomed us to Áras an Uachtaráin and to Ireland and expressed how proud he was to see American students taking such a strong interest and desire to learn about Irish culture. He told the students it's up to them to keep Irish culture alive in the US and hoped they would return to Ireland many more times in the future. After introductions and sipping on Bewley's, Adrian's assistant gave us a fantastic tour of the main floor of the President's House. Áras an Uachtaráin has had a colourful history before becoming the Official Residence of the President of Ireland. Built in 1751 and situated in the 1,752 acres of the Phoenix Park near Dublin, the original house was built by Park Ranger Nathaniel Clements. By 1782 it had been acquired for use by the Viceroys who oversaw British rule in Ireland. Clements received £25,000 for the house. The house continued as the official residence of the Viceroys until 1922. For much of the period of Home Rule that followed it was the residence of the Governors General, the Crown's representatives during the new dispensation. In 1938 it became the Official Residence of the President of Ireland and has been used for that purpose since. The ILE students saw four important rooms on the main floor of the President's House. The first was the State Dining Room. The State Dining Room was built in 1849 for a visit by Queen Victoria. The ILE students gathered and sat around a beautiful table, made in 1927. The table, was formerly the Cabinet table in Leinster House and was brought to the Áras by Eamon de Valera in 1960. The first meeting of new Governments is usually held around this table after Ministers have received their Seals of Office from the President. Many important people in Ireland's history sat around this table, so it was a special way for the ILE students to have a connection to Ireland's past and present. The first President of Ireland, Dr. Douglas Hyde, lived in the house from 1938-1945. In 1944, he decided to assemble a small collection of pictures and portraits representing significant people and events in the history of Ireland, and donated many of the works himself. Of historical rather than artistic interest, the collection was at first displayed in the Council of State Room. Now portraits of past Presidents by contemporary Irish artists hang on the State Dining Room walls. The second room we entered was the State Reception Room. This room was formerly the ballroom and dates from 1802, just after the Act of Union. A beautiful handwoven carpet from Donegal is the focal point in the room, which you can see in the second picture. Its centerpiece depicts the Phoenix rising from the flames and the four heads on each corner replicate the riverine figures of James Gandon’s Custom House, which represent the principal rivers of Ireland. The next room we entered was the Council of State Room. It is part of the original house, built in 1751, and is now generally used as a reception room. Originally a dining room, it had been fitted up as a billiard room in the 1840s. Its coved plaster ceiling, part-gilded and unusual in Ireland, is attributed to Bartholomew Cramillion, who introduced this Rococo style into Irish plasterwork in the mid-18th century. It has always been in the original Clements house and depicts scenes from Aesop’s Fables: On the long sides, the Fox and the Stork, while the vignettes on the short sides show the Fox and the Crow, and the Fox and the Grapes. The last and final room was the State Drawing Room. This room contains two magnificent 18th-century Adam chimney pieces. A chandelier hanging in the center of the room is made from brass in the Regency style and commemorates the Act of Union of 1801 by intertwining a shamrock, rose and thistle representing Ireland, England and Scotland. In the corner of the room is a gorgeous piano. The ILE students were given the opportunity of a lifetime to tickle the ivories of the President's Steinway. Hannah eagerly stepped up to the piano bench and treated us all to a gorgeous song, followed by Savannah, Pete, Erin, Taryn and Piper. These students are so talented. They continue to amaze us each day! While some students treated us to tunes in the State Drawing Room, others sat around a Connemara marble coffee table was also commissioned for President Bill Clinton's visit in 2000. Before we left, the Irish Life Experience made sure to take plenty of pictures to savor their cherished experience at Áras an Uachtaráin. Thank you President McAleese and Mr. O'Neill!

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