Large crowds are expected to file past the open coffin of former taoiseach Charles Haughey at the Church of Our Lady of Consolation in Donnycarney today ahead of tomorrow's State funeral, which will be attended by mourners led by his family, President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
The Government Information Service, which is organising the State funeral, said last night that it was impossible to estimate the numbers of people that will attend today's removal and tomorrow's funeral, but said large crowds were expected.
Some 250 gardaí are being deployed. Up to 500 VIPs have been invited to attend the removal service for Mr Haughey and the funeral Mass, with the remaining 1,500 seats being reserved for the public on a firstcome, first-served basis.
Two large television screens will relay the services to those outside the church and in the nearby Le Chéile community hall. Mr Ahern has pulled out of the three-monthly meeting of EU leaders in Brussels to attend the removal service and funeral Mass for Mr Haughey.
He will deliver the graveside oration tomorrow. The President returns this morning from a visit to three African countries for the funeral. She will return to Africa over the weekend to complete the third leg of her State visit, when she will travel to Tanzania. Last night, former Labour Party leader Ruairí Quinn said that while he extended his condolences to Mr Haughey's family and friends, he had to put it on record that if Mr Haughey had been treated like an ordinary citizen, he would have been jailed for perjury.
Mr Quinn told The Irish Times he felt obliged to make his comments after the long speech extolling Mr Haughey by Fianna Fáil TD Donie Cassidy at a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business yesterday. Mr Quinn said Mr Haughey destroyed politics in this country, as the revelations of the tribunals have demonstrated. "For every accolade that can be put on the credit side, sadly there is a debit side, and I would feel remiss if I were to let the credit side of the record stand alone.
"I am saddened by his death for his family and for the friends and people who admired him, but for all the good things that he did, sadly there was a debit side as well," he said. Senator Liam Fitzgerald, one of the so-called Gang of Four TDs who tried to oust Mr Haughey as party leader in 1991, said last night that he was undecided about attending given his past differences with Mr Haughey.
"I am perplexed as to whether it is appropriate that I should attend. I want to go for a lot of positive, wonderful reasons, but I must seek wiser counsel to guide me to such a decision," he said. Mr Haughey's remains will be brought from his Abbeville home to the mortuary chapel in the church in Donnycarney at 11am today.
People will have an opportunity to file past the coffin from 11.30am to 4pm. The removal service will begin at 5pm when the coffin will be brought from the mortuary chapel into the main church. The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, and Fr Eoghan Haughey, Mr Haughey's brother, will receive the body. The Taoiseach visited Kinsealy yesterday to pay his respects to the Haughey family.
Former minister for finance and former EU commissioner Ray MacSharry, and former SDLP leader John Hume, were among others who paid their respects at Abbeville. Mr Haughey's long-time press adviser and friend, PJ Mara, also called to the house to sympathise with Maureen Haughey and her four children.
Last night, former head of the Department of Finance TK Whitaker, who worked with Mr Haughey in the late 1960s when he was minister for finance, said: "He deserves credit, especially for the protection of widows against disinheritance.
"That was a great social advance. He also deserves credit for his genuine concern for the elderly and for artists."
Mr Haughey's Requiem Mass will take place at midday tomorrow. Leading political figures past and present, as well as members of the judiciary and the diplomatic corps, will attend. Afterwards, Mr Haughey's funeral will take place to St Fintan's Cemetery in Sutton, where he will be buried with military honours.