Bad hoof will keep president indoors

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese has been forced to curtail public functions and will spend New Year’s Eve at home with family as she recovers from a broken ankle.

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.