After undergoing a period of social unrest and a period of transition over the last few decades, Ireland is looking towards a positive future.
In a Canadian Press report, McAleese said that a new model of social partnership was formed with the government giving unions, social groups and communities a chance to have their concerns considered in the future of the country.
McAleese said that Canada had played a noble role in helping in the progress because it had allowed Irish people from different backgrounds to overcome their differences.
"They became friends to one another, friends, colleagues, neighbours and they got over all those old historical vanities -- Catholic, Protestant, British, Irish -- they worked together. We're still trying to do that, of course, in Ireland, we're still trying to find a way to do that."
McAleese also praised Canada's support through international funds and their assistance through the country's peace process.
"Over the last number of years in the peace process, we have been incredibly helped by our friends in Canada, who had...not just a good story to tell us, but as a role model that we could identify with," McAleese said.Ireland is increasingly being viewed as a hub for innovation in Europe and is being recognized around the world for its economic turnaround in recent years.
Speaking Wednesday in a speech to Enterprise Ireland and the Ireland Canada Chamber of Commerce, McAleese spoke hopefully of the country's future.
"(The) best educated, most problem-solving generation is laying the foundation for the most successful, socially inclusive and peaceful Ireland ever in our history," said McAleese, who is currently serving a second seven-year term.
The Irish president was speaking as she arrived in Toronto to open Ireland Park Thursday, situated on the shores of Lake Ontario at the foot of Bathurst Street.
The park is being opened to commemorate the thousands of Irish immigrants who came to Canada in 1847 to escape the potato famine.
The people came to Toronto because of a blight on the potato crop in Ireland that caused catastrophic affects on the Irish population that relied heavily on the vegetable.
In the four years of the famine, a million people out of a 8.5 million-population died of starvation or diseases such as typhoid and cholera.
Hundreds of thousands of people left Ireland and 38,000 of those people arrived in Toronto in 1847, which at the time only had a population of 20,000 people. McAleese praised the city of Toronto for their assistance at that difficult time.
"And what is this city's response? This city's response is extraordinary. It is unique in the story of all of the famine victims. This city of a small number of people had the biggest hearts ever," McAleese said.
The opening of Ireland Park by McAleese will be attended by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Toronto Mayor David Miller and federal Finance minister Jim Flaherty.
With files from the Canadian Press 
工具 
