The President, Mrs Mary McAleese, yesterday spoke of her hopes for a breakthrough in the impasse in the Northern Ireland peace process.
On the first day of an official visit to Australia, Mrs McAleese said this year might be one of consolidation. "In fact next month might be the month it all comes together," she added.
At a function hosted by Queensland's premier, Mr Peter Beattie, the President said Australia's support for the peace process in the North had always meant a lot to Irish people.
"For all its ups and downs, stops and starts, it is grinding its way inexorably towards a landscape of transformed relationships, transformed hopes," she said. "Please keep praying for its success, for the journey is not yet over. We have a distance yet to travel and as the old Irish expression says - two shorten the road."
The President began her second official trip to Australia by meeting 400 members of Brisbane's Irish community at the headquarters of the Queensland Irish Association in the city. She said she was happy to return to Australia and to Brisbane at this special time of the year for all Irish people.
"Both Ireland and Queensland have undergone remarkable changes since my visit here in 1998," she said. "I know that you are proud of what we in Ireland have been able to achieve in recent years. We have also been very impressed by the dynamic growth of Queensland in the same period."
The President spoke of the many Irish emigrants who had become famous Queenslanders, including Patsy Durack from Co Limerick, who was immortalised by his granddaughter Mary in her book, Kings in Grass Castles.
Mrs McAleese said the Irish Government valued highly its links with Queensland and that a memorandum of understanding on economic co-operation had been concluded between the two governments.
Referring to the 10,000 young Irish people who go to Australia each year on working holiday visas, the President said Irish people watched the events in Childers in June 2000 with a deep sense of shock, when an Irish backpacker was among several who died in a hostel fire.
"Among the 15 backpackers so cruelly taken that awful night was young Julie O'Keefe from Co Limerick. Our hearts went out to her family and friends. The generosity of the people of Childers and the Isis Shire Council and indeed members of the Queensland Irish Association by helping in every way they could in the days and months that followed was truly inspirational," she said.
Today the President will accept an honorary doctorate from the University of Queensland before leaving for Sydney.
