Bad hoof will keep president indoors
Mrs McAleese has cancelled her annual walkabout at the Esat BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition at the RDS in Dublin next week, an event she has always looked forward to.
The President broke her ankle when she tried to board a ski lift in the Austrian resort of Bad Hofgastein on Christmas Eve.
She was two days into a family vacation when she fell while waiting for the person ahead of her to take the left side of the seat so she could take the right side.
When the chair came from behind the two were not positioned properly. It crashed into Mrs McAleese, knocking her down a number of steps. The president injured her ankle when it caught on the stairs.
A spokesperson for the President said any public engagements planned to take place in Arás an Uachtarán would go ahead but some outside engagements, especially those outside Dublin, that entailed a lot of moving around, would be postponed, if at all possible.
The spokesperson said it now looked unlikely that the President would be unable attend the Young Scientist Exhibition because it involved a lot of moving around.
No doubt her absence from the RDS will disappoint hundreds of budding scientists who wanted her to see their projects.
The President had pins inserted into her ankle under general anaesthetic before her foot and lower leg were put in plaster.
The plaster cast will remain on the President’s leg for six weeks. Much will depend on how the clean break to the small round bone of her ankle heals.
The 51-year-old President had planned to be in Austria for a week with her husband, Martin, and three children, Emma, Sara and Justin.
Despite the accident Mrs McAleese remains in good spirits and is intent on carrying out her official role despite her temporary disability.
