Bronze bust of former president Mary McAleese to grace the Aras
A BRONZE bust of former president Mary McAleese is expected be installed alongside those of her predecessors in the coming weeks.
The bust was commissioned in 1999, two years after Ms McAleese took up office, and cost €7,600.
But the Office of Public Works (OPW) has waited until Ms McAleese had left the Aras before mounting her bust alongside Eamon de Valera, Patrick Hillery, Mary Robinson and others.
The OPW's former art adviser, Noel de Chenu, who has since died, discussed the bust with Ms McAleese in 1999, and the pair agreed the Royal Hibernian Academy's Carolyn Mulholland would be the sculptor.
The busts are placed on columns of Connemara marble in the Francini Corridor in Aras an Uachtarain.
The corridor was created in 1957 during the presidency of Sean T O'Ceallaigh, and runs on the north side of the State Reception Room, where the president hosts guests.
- Fiach Kelly
Irish Independent
