On Wed 4th March the James Joyce Library was honoured to welcome two most distinguished guests, his Excellency President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina, who were visiting the school in celebration of the school’s bicentenary.
Greeted at the door by Elements student Rory O’Meara in the guise of James McLorinan, the first student to enter Clongowes, our guests were much bemused by Rory’s few lines as he detailed young Master McLorinan’s journey to Clongowes 201 years ago.
The President and Mrs Higgins then engaged in chat about some of the books on display including copies of his own writing and seemed quite impressed that we had all his published work from his first, The Betrayal (1990) to New and Selected Poems (2011). They also spoke fondly of artist and Old Clongownian, Mick Mulcahy who illustrated two of President Higgins’ poetry collections.
It was a pleasure to be part of this special visit and an honour for the library to be a part of the President’s tour of the campus before his historic address to the whole school in the Sports Hall.
