As he enters into his second year in office Taoiseach Enda Kenny has bedded in well, and has lost no lustre despite the strain of the Government’s effort to keep the wolf from the Irish door, and the severity of the rescue programme imposed on the country.

Kenny’s cordiality in whatever country or community he is visiting stands out like a daffodil in spring and, like the flower, seems to have the effect of lifting the human spirit despite the hard times in which we live.

Regardless of his onerous schedule the Taoiseach still manages to fill invitations to all sorts of events in Mayo in gratitude for the magnificent mandate he received from the people of his native Mayo, who elected four Fine Gael candidates this time last year.

And last week Muintir Mhaigh Eo honoured him as Mayo Person of the Year at their annual function in Dublin which was attended by some 850 enthusiastic admirers. The Taoiseach was greeted with a standing ovation as he came forward to accept what he described was perhaps the second most important honour that could be bestowed on him.

The first award, he told the audience, was presented to him last February.

“It is difficult to surpass the trust placed in me by the people of the country by my election to the office of Taoiseach.
“But this award of the Mayo Person of the Year comes fr

om our own, ourselves, and I am deeply appreciative of that, and humbled.
“I shall carry it with pride around the world. I draw strength from it. I draw consolation from it,” he said. Nothing touches Enda more than to witness abroad the creative spirit of his own people.

In Washington last St Patrick’s Day he listened at the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon as the Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner quoted a verse from a poem extolling the beauty of Islandeady, the birthplace of Taoiseach.

The House Speaker was paying tribute to Enda Kenny on his election as Taoiseach.

He said many who came to America during the Famine period originated from the shores of the west coast of Ireland, near a small village in county Mayo called Islandeady.

He said he recently read a poem about Islandeady, written by Pauline Rice. It begins: From the lake in Islandeady, there’s a view of seven hills, Near the ancient Churchyard ruin wherein the Maker tills, Birds sing sweetly in the trees, waves wash on the shore, And lap about the anchored boats as fish leap by the score.

The Taoiseach spoke later of how proud he was to hear a poem from his own parish quoted in the White House.

And in Dublin last week he referred to the personal pride he felt in accepting the award on behalf of all present.

He quoted George Washington, the first President of the USA, who once said the most cherished virtue of all was the ‘character of an honest person.’

He intended, he said, to bring that to bear on his life and he concluded with a quote from The Boys From the County Mayo, often referred to as the Mayo anthem: “Don’t show the white feather wherever you go”.