LAST UPDATE | 11 Nov

PRESIDENT CATHERINE CONNOLLY’S first official engagement as head of State is a visit to a Gaelscoil in Dublin.

It’s one of three visits in the diary tomorrow for Connolly, who will be busy travelling across the country for her second day in office.

According to the presidential diary, Connolly is scheduled to travel to Gaelscoil Inse Chór, located in Inchicore, around 4km from the Áras an Uachtaráin.

The visit will take place at 11am tomorrow.

The visit is somewhat symbolic one - Connolly placed a strong emphasis on the Irish language throughout her Áras campaign.

She has indicated that she wishes to make Irish the working language of the presidency.

“I will do my best to bring Irish in from the margins and use it,” she told Raidió na Gaeltachta on 31 October.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Liveline this afternoon, Colm Ó Nualláin, the principal of Gaelscoil Inse Chór, said the school community is “over the moon and very excited”.

He said people have been “running around and working really hard to present the best version of Gaelscoil Inse Chór for our newly inaugurated Uachtaráin”.

Ó Nualláin added that “many willing volunteers offered to help” and that it was lovely to see all the assistance that came ahead of tomorrow’s visit.

He said he found out about the visit yesterday and that he “dropped everything and was so happy”.

After learning of the upcoming visit, Ó Nualláin said he immediately announced the news to the pupils and that there was “spontaneous applause and even a few tears”.

“Something about Uachtaráin Connolly really resonates with these children,” said Ó Nualláin.

President Connolly has said that Irish will be the working language of the Áras and Ó Nualláin said this is “of huge importance” to the Irish language community.

“As a Gaeilgeoir, you are first and foremost a lover of the language but after that, you become an advocate for its promotion and you’re almost forced to be a bit evangelical about it to garner support,” said Ó Nualláin.

“But to have successive presidents who are placing it so centrally, it’s no small thing.

“It’s right that the language is central to the highest office in the land and they have both ensured its prominence and it really resonates with the children here and our entire community.”

Speaking on The Journal’s The Candidate podcast, President Connolly described Gaeilge as “a gift” and added that the language offers a “completely different view of the world”.

The inability of Heather Humphreys to speak Irish, in contrast to Connolly’s fluency, bolstered the latter’s appeal among young voters during the presidential campaign.

Less than 2% of the population use Irish daily, according to national census figures, though roughly 40% of the population here say they can speak the language. 

Connolly will visit a resource centre in Trim, Co Meath at 1.30pm, followed by a visit to two nursing units at Merlin park University Hospital in her home county of Galway.

It’s an impressive turnaround for a newly-appointed president – Michael D. Higgins, who was sworn in on 11 November 2011, attended his first official presidential engagement two days after his inauguration.

He attended a ceremony in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin and then travelled to Derry for the final of the all-island school choir of the year competition.

-With additional reporting from Diarmuid Pepper