{"id":505110,"date":"2026-06-17T23:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T23:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/505110\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T23:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T23:47:11","slug":"any-prosecco-in-there-blue-skies-and-big-hats-at-catherine-connollys-first-aras-garden-party-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/505110\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Any prosecco in there?\u2019 Blue skies and big hats at Catherine Connolly\u2019s first \u00c1ras garden party \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Catherine Connolly<\/a> could scarcely have picked a better day for her first \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in garden party. While the blue skies and warm breezes delighted everyone, few seemed as happy as the Cork women in the large pink cowboy hats waiting for the line dancing to begin. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe President was down with us a couple of weeks ago and we asked if we could come up and she said we\u2019d be most welcome,\u201d said Kathleen Sheehan from Togher when asked how she\u2019d blagged her ticket and why she was wearing such a big hat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been practising our line dancing for a week now and once the band starts playing we\u2019ll be up and hopefully get the crowd going,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

Fellow line dancer and pink hat wearer Tessa O\u2019Connell was sitting at a table on the lawn clearly awed by the scene she\u2019d unexpectedly found herself in. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I walked in and saw the carpets and the chandeliers and everything, it was just fabulous. We\u2019re going to make a day of it. We\u2019ll be out till eight o\u2019clock,\u201d she whispered. <\/p>\n

Almost everyone among the 350 or so souls wandering the perfectly manicured lawns \u2013 and marvelling at the trees planted by everyone from Queen Victoria to Pope Francis \u2013 looked as awed as Tessa.<\/p>\n

There were people from charities and community groups and the odd friend of the President and her husband, Brian McEnery.<\/p>\n

On the Queen\u2019s Walkway, the gravel path that is home to Vickie\u2019s Tree and one planted by a Grand Old Duke of York (not that one) the F\u00e9inics string quartet played Once Upon a Dream from Sleeping Beauty, while in the walled garden nearby The Tenters played mellow jazz.<\/p>\n

\"CatherineCatherine Connolly greets guests at the first garden party of her presidency at \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

Two women took it all in, starry-eyed. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur husbands know Brian,\u201d Sally Daly from Kilkenny said when asked what they were doing here. \u201cThey know each other from Cork,\u201d she explained, adding that what she was really looking forward to was the food. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to have a sandwich,\u201d she said in a low and conspiratorial voice. <\/p>\n

Maeve Mangan nodded happily at the thought of the fancy food and then hauled her husband Malachy into the huddle, explaining that he was the one who scored the invites. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was in college with Brian in Cork,\u201d he said. \u201cI have stories that I could tell you about those days but you wouldn\u2019t want to hear them,\u201d he laughed. <\/p>\n

When asked if the invite was a surprise, he explained he\u2019d dropped pretty big hints the last time they met up at a college reunion. \u201cI had to do a bit of wrangling.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mary Gaffney was there as part of a Women\u2019s Shed in Dunleer, Co Meath. \u201cIs there any prosecco in there?\u201d she wondered, looking towards the marquee where the main event was to take place. There wasn\u2019t, but she didn\u2019t mind and was happy with whatever was served.<\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident Catherine Connolly and her husband Brian McEnery chatting with guests during her first presidential garden party. Photograph: Brian Lawless\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Nearby, four members of the Havana Club Trio played cool salsa before the garden party moved en masse into the marquee when sandwiches and sweet treats were served to a soundtrack of trad music as the guests waited for their host. <\/p>\n

Then an Army<\/a> officer took to the stage and told everyone to be upstanding and in walked the President, her husband and a small entourage. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was shown to my seat I thought I was going to escape having to say a few words,\u201d she began. \u201cIt\u2019s good that you are sitting because I have about 50 pages here,\u201d she added ominously. <\/p>\n

Her speech was much shorter than that in the end. After she expressed delight at hosting the first garden party of the 10th president and thanked all those who had made it possible, she returned to her seat and waited for the line dancing to begin. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Catherine Connolly could scarcely have picked a better day for her first \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in garden party.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,7038,43],"class_list":["post-505110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-politics","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}