Áras an Uachtaraín

Home of the Irish  President - Mary McAleese

Áras an Uachtaraín is through a formal  break in the shrubbery along the  main road of the Phoenix Park. 

It was designed and built in 1751, for Nathaniel Clements. The building is very wide, it has a lot of windows and a few chimneys. It has two flags, a  fence  and a couple of houses around it. 

The original house was only the size of that section visible to passerby but  without the columns. The house was purchased by the  English government  and an attempt was made to get the cooperation of  Henry  Grattan the  leader of the opposition in the  Irish parliament. Today it is the house where the President of Ireland lives, currently Mary McAleese.

 In the past Queen Victoria visited on four occasions and planted an evergreen on the lawn which is now a towering tree. Edward VII also visited three times  and  the  last  royal welcome was for George V in 1911.

Kerry Harris & Danielle Hayes

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