My warmest Christmas and New Year greetings to Irish people, and to Ireland's friends, everywhere. This special season presents us each year with a chance to renew friendships, to reconcile differences, to celebrate kindness and to reflect on the extraordinary capacity we have to touch, and be touched by, the lives of all we meet..

There was never a better example of our ability to enrich each other than the 2003 Special Olympic World Games which Ireland was privileged to host. Those inspiring athletes brought out the very best in us, creating memories of heroic endeavour and limitless generosity which will live in our hearts and minds for a long time to come. Though the Special Olympic flame was extinguished at the end of the Games, all that it symbolises endures and not just in the field of sport.

Coming as I do from Northern Ireland, I was particularly delighted that the Special Olympics was an all-island project and that through the Olympian spirit of friendship we shared such a successful partnership. I hope it is a sign of happier times to come. Since 1998, the Good Friday Agreement has slowly but surely transformed the atmosphere in Northern Ireland. The old miseries of political conflict and sectarianism are losing their grip as people count their dreadful cost and set their sights on a better future shared equally by all. The elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly have now taken place and I have great hope that the newly elected men and women, entrusted with delivering that future, will work together constructively and responsibly, mindful of the undeniable progress that has been made in recent years and the huge desire for peace.

2004 will be an important year for Ireland. We assume the Presidency of the European Union on 1 January and so it will be our privilege to host the historic Day of Welcomes when ten new member states join the Union on May 1st. The Union's new members have known times of great difficulty and hardship but now they are ambitious for their futures. They take great heart and inspiration from Ireland's remarkable success and we look forward to working with them to drive forward the vision of a peaceful, prosperous European homeland created and sustained by its many peoples working together in respectful and equal partnership.

May our homes, our streets and our communities be places of comfort and of welcome, of tolerance and goodwill. Our world faces many ups and downs and there are plenty of things to test our spirit and our values. Whatever challenges the New Year holds for us may we continue to be uplifted by the spirit of Christmas and may we continue to work, in hope, for
". . . that dream, born in a herdsman's shed,
And for the secret Scripture of the poor.“

Mary McAleese
President of Ireland


An tUachtarán ... on home ground...
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Beirim beannachtaí na Nollag agus mo dhea-ghuí don Athbhliain do mhuintir na hÉireann agus do cháirde na hÉireann cibé áit a bhfuil siad ar fud an domhain. Tugtar seans dúinn gach bliain, am seo na Nollag, cairdeas a athnuachan, athmhuintearas a chleachtadh, buíochas a ghabháil as cineáltas ár gcairde agus machnamh a dhéanamh ar an chumas atá ag daoine teacht faoi anáil a chéile.

Ba dhoiligh sampla níos fearr den chumas sin a aimsiú ná na Cluichí Oilimpeacha Speisialta Domhanda a raibh sé de phribhléid againn iad a bheith in Éirinn i mbliana. D’fhoghlaim muid crógacht agus misneach ó na lúthchleasaithe speisialta sin agus is fada a bheas cuimhne sa tír seo ar a laochras agus a bhflaithiúlacht. Cé gur múchadh an Lasair Oilimpeach ag deireadh na gCluichí is siombal buan dúinne é den mhisneach agus den chrógacht a chonaic muid thart orainn an samhradh seo a chuaigh thart.

Bua breise dom féin é, mar Tuaisceartach, gur togra uile-Éireannach a bhí sna Cluichí Speisialta, agus gur chothaigh na cluichí féin agus na daoine a raibh baint acu leo cairdeas agus comhoibriú ar fud an oileáin seo. Tá súil agam gur dea-thuar don todhchaí é sin. Tá tionchar Chomhaontú Aoine an Chéasta le brath ar fud na hÉireann ón am ar ritheadh é sa bhliain 1998. Céad slán leis an bhroid, leis an tsíor-choimhlint agus leis an seicteachas a bhí mar oidhreacht againn ó na Trioblóidí. Tá na toghcháin thart anois, agus tá mé dóchasach nach loicfidh na fir agus na mná atá tofa orthu siúd a thogh iad, ach go n-oibreoidh siad ar a seacht ndícheall chun sochaí shíochánta a chothú i dTuaisceart Éireann, sochaí mar is toil le daoine agus mar a roghnaigh daoine.

Bliain mhór atá romhainn amach. Titfidh ualach agus pribhléid Uachtaránacht Aontas na hEorpa ar Éirinn Lá Caille 2004. Mar chuid den chúram sin is muid a bheas freagrach as Lá na bhForbhfáilte, Lá Bealtaine, tráth a nglacfaidh deich stát úra ballraíocht san Aontas. Stáit iad seo a thaistil bóthar fasta casta chun an Aontais seo, mar a rinne muid féin. Is eiseamláir muid do na tíortha seo sa dóigh gur éirigh chomh maith linn le blianta beaga anuas. Bímis ag súil go mór le bheith ag obair lámh ar láimh le muintir na mballstát úra seo chun Aontas Eorpach mar is cuí agus mar is cóir a chruthú, é faoi ráth is faoi raidhse, faoi shíocháin is faoi shéan.

Go raibh suaimhneas agus síocháin inár dtithe, inár sráideanna agus inár mbailte, inár n-ionaid oibre agus inár n-ionaid só. Níl dabht ar bith ach go bhfuil deacrachtaí romhainn amach, ach cibé dúshláin iad féin, go raibh stábla Bheithil mar inspreagadh againn le iad a shárú; agus muid ag dréim le:
“... that dream, born in a herdsman’s shed,
And for the secret Scripture of the poor.”

Máire Mhic Ghiolla Íosa
Uachtarán na hÉireann