President visits missionary priest’s project
- The Irish Times, 22nd March, 2004

Renagh Holohan in Iguazu Falls, Argentina

There is reportedly only one Irish resident of Misiones, a remote north-east province of Argentina with one million inhabitants and 1,000 square miles of red fertile earth. And on Saturday the President, Mrs McAleese, went to visit him.

Limerick priest Father Liam Hayes runs centres for the mentally and physically disabled and for the elderly in the province. The President's party, on a state visit to South America, flew the 90 minutes from Buenos Aires to see the work of the Divine Word Missionary.
Father Hayes' work has been funded by the Irish Government to the tune of approximately €200,000 to date. He also receives other donations from Ireland.

The President, accompanied by her husband Dr Martin McAleese, and the Minister of State for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Michael Ahern, was greeted by Governor Mr Carlos Rovira and an armed guard of honour from the local police when she flew into Posadas, the capital of the Misiones Province.
At the site of Father Hayes' project, situated in the midst of tea plantations and sub-tropical forests, locals, many of them Guarani Indians, waved flags and cheered as Mrs McAleese viewed the facilities.

School children in white tunics lined up along the dirt road. Among the greeting party was 73-year-old Poor Clare nun, Sister Lucila Ryan, who had special permission from her bishop to attend.

Both Sister Lucila’s grandparents are from Co Westmeath. The nun, who had travelled five hours by bus from her convent near Iguazu to meet the President, first learned Spanish at school and her English had a pronounced midlands accent.

Speaking in Spanish, Mrs McAleese described Father Hayes' work as remarkable. He said her visit was more valuable than gold and diamonds.

The President chatted with the patients and with two Irish volunteers from Westport, Co Mayo who were working on the project for six months, Ms Niamh Heraty and Ms Tríona McCaffrey.

After visiting the centres on Saturday, the President flew to Iguazu to view one the world's most spectacular waterfalls.

Mrs McAleese was brought on a tour along the upper walkway before dusk fell. She passed over torrents of water running at 2,000 tonnes per second.

She spent Saturday night in an hotel overlooking the cascading waters which form a border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

After Mass celebrated by Father Hayes in the hotel yesterday morning, the President was brought on a more comprehensive tour of Iguazu which took them lower down the gorge.

Rangers of the Argentine national park were her guides and armed police, Argentine and Irish, shadowed her movements.

Last night the President crossed the Andes to Santiago, Chile where she begins a three-day State visit today.