THE VISIT OF THE TAOISEACH TO ST. COLUMBA’S SCHOOL

Promptly at 9:15 a.m on Thursday 19^th January, a car bearing Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland, entered through the gates of the Middle school. Greeted by the Vice Principal Br. Finn, Mr. Ahern and his delegation walked through a guard of honour, consisting of our pupils, to be garlanded in front of the Middle school steps. All the Middle School pupils were smartly arranged on the fields and stood to attention as they sang the Irish National Anthem in Gaelic, followed by the Indian National Anthem.

The Taoiseach along with Ms. Mary Hanafin (Minister of Education), Mr. Micheal Martin (Minister of Enterprise), Mr. John O’ Donoghue (Minister for arts) and the other 20 delegation numbers were visibly moved to hear hundreds of boys singing so well in Gaelic. Br. Finn introduced the Taoiseach who spoke of his own debt of gratitude as a past pupil of a Christian Brothers’ School in Ireland. He encouraged the boys to “mind their books”, to study hard and to engage in all school activities.

He then descended the steps and went walk-about among the students, greeting them warmly and interacting with them. The Taoiseach laughed when many boys said, “Good morning, Brother!” He remarked, “I was almost inducted there for a while.”

The boys conducted themselves magnificently. Mr. Ahern then went to the auditorium to honour the efforts of Irish Educationists of the years. An Indo-Irish Friendship Council was inaugurated. Photo Opportunities followed before the Taoiseach went to the beautifully decorated Aerobics room for refreshments with the invited guests.

His last act was to officially handover a Mobile Eye Clinic to an NGO headed be Dr. Shethi. The Irish delegation left in a happy mood at 10:30 am to visit Raj Ghat.