News Item

From Special Irish Fest Rocky Mountain High Correspondent Ronan Collins:

McALEESE DEPARTS ON EIGHT DAY US VISIT
President Mary McAleese departed from Dublin this morning for an eight-day official visit to the US. She will begin in Missoula, Montana, where she will launch an Irish Studies programme at the University of Montana. The trip will emphasise the cultural and economic links between Ireland and the Rocky Mountains region. In Butte, Montana, a town where many Irish settled in the late 19th century to work in the region's copper mines, she will visit the World Museum of Mining. The president is then due to travel to Denver where she will meet business leaders and attend a state dinner hosted by the Governor of Colorado. Over the weekend Ms McAleese will be conferred with an honorary Doctor of Laws and deliver the 2006 Commencement address at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. The president, who will be accompanied by her husband Dr Martin McAleese, will return to Dublin on Tuesday 23rd May.

If the president working her Butte off to promote Irish culture has inspired you, why not volunteer to work at Irish Fest this year? Sign up on line now!