600 children added to guest list for Presidential inaugeration

More than 600 schoolchildren will be among the invited attendance at the inauguration of the President-elect, Mrs Mary McAleese, next Tuesday. The children - 20 from primary and secondary schools in each of the 32 counties - will gather in the Yard at Dublin Castle as Mrs McAleese passes through to the inauguration ceremony in St Patrick's Hall, and will be greeted afterwards by the new President.

The President-elect had the idea during the election campaign. According to a spokeswoman, Mrs McAleese was struck by the number of children who were taking part in school debates and elections centred on the Presidency. This prompted her to involve children in the inauguration ceremony.

She has also requested that "while acknowledging the traditions and customs of the day", guests should dress informally.

She has also asked that people be invited representing 25 strands of Irish life which she has defined. These include a unionist from Northern Ireland, a farmer, a garda, a nurse, a journalist, an islander, a dancer, a politician, an entrepreneur, an unemployed person, a Down's Syndrome person, a peacekeeping soldier, a waitress, an elderly person and a child.

They will sit in the front rows at St Patrick's Hall. As soon as the new President receives her seal of office she will walk down to this group and greet them.

While she does so, uileann piper Liam Og O Floinn will play a specially commissioned piece he has written called An Drochead (The Bridge) "to emphasise the theme of inclusiveness and bridgebuilding".

At 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday the new President will host a reception at Aras an Uachtaran for up to 200 people. This will be followed at 6.30 p.m. by a fireworks display in the Phoenix Park, to which the public is invited.

Mrs McAleese has also expanded the invitation list for the lunch at 1.15 p.m. It will now include up to 70 or 80 people representing various strands of Irish life, as well as members of the Government and the Council of State.

The Government decides on the guest list for the inauguration ceremony in St Patrick's Hall, besides the 25 people there at Mrs McAleese's behest. The ceremony starts at noon and will be televised live on RTE.

On The Late Late Show last night, Mrs McAleese stressed that her decision not to wear a poppy at the inaugeration was "not in any sense of disrespect". She added that she had asked Mr Harvey Bicker, of the Ulster Unionist Party, who will attend the ceremony, "to wear the poppy and that will be entirely appropriate. There is an argument that says the President should be really stripped of symbols, because the President is him or herself the symbol - with the exception, of course, of the shamrock, which is the national emblem."