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President Higgins with Wesley College students last night. RTÉ
winning singing

President watches Wesley win all-island school choir contest

Final of choral competition becomes one of President Higgins’s first official engagements.

PRESIDENT MICHAEL D Higgins spent his first Sunday in his new post watching student choirs perform for the prize of best All-Island School Choir.

After taking it easy on Saturday, the day after his inauguration at Dublin Castle, President Higgins was on hand as guest of honour at the competition in the Millennium Forum Theatre in Derry. Wesley College in Dublin took the title, beating St Joseph’s Mercy College in Navan, Co Meath, De La Salle College Waterford, and Victoria College, Belfast. The contest had featured 85 schools from across the country and the final 20 performed on RTÉ over the last four Sundays. Wesley won stg£4,000 (€4,685) for the top prize.

Along with President Higgins, other guests at last night’s final included his former Presidential race rival and Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson.