GAA and jockeys: McAleese visits Dubai’s oasis of Irishness

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese was treated to an oasis of Irishness in the Dubai desert yesterday — complete with underage GAA and top jockeys.

Before watching a children’s football match at Dubai Celts GAA club, the President was shown around the city’s Meydan stables by jockeys Mick Kinnane and Johnny Murtagh.

The pair had come to the UAE to prepare for the six-week carnival of racing which will culminate in the €4.6 million Dubai World Cup showpiece race next month. Given the strong ties between the bloodstock industry in the United Arab Emirates and Ireland, Mrs McAleese, and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin, were invited to see how the relationship works.

However, despite the decadence, the presidential visit could not escape the shadow of the world’s economic crisis, which has burst UAE’s booming building industry. Across the city a frenzy of construction on imaginative sky-scrapers has slowed to a crawl and an army of cranes remained still as Mrs McAleese’s cavalcade passed.

During the visit, the President met with the country’s rulers who remain positive about the country’s prospects. And if their optimism proves to be justified there are 4,000 Irish people living the Gulf hoping to take advantage.

Many of these turned up to greet President McAleese. The President also addressed a reception for businessmen based in Dubai before she left.