FIRST VISIT AND FIRST DUTY AS NEW PRESIDENT SETTLES IN

PRESIDENT Catherine Connolly visited an Irish-language school in Dublin on her first official engagement.

- BY GRAINNE NI AODHA

Ms Connolly, who learned Irish as an adult, said Gaelscoil Inse Choir was an exemplary school.

She said students without any Irish arrive at the school and are immersed in the language, before being taught English in first class.

Ms Connolly was inaugurated as the 10th president of Ireland on Tuesday, in a room filled with ministers, parliamentarians, judges, ambassadors and her family.

During her speech delivered in St Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle, she pledged to help put the Irish language "in first place", as well as emphasise the challenges of conflicts and climate change.

As Ms Connolly arrived at the school yesterday, located in the Irish National War Memorial Gardens, students from the school chanted her name.

She and her husband Brian McEnery greeted a guard of honour of students waving tricolour flags they had made.

She was asked questions by the students, including what her favourite food is, and how many Gaelic football solos she can do.