MICHAEL D HIGGINS will become the 9th president of Ireland at an inauguration ceremony in Dublin Castle shortly after midday today.
The President-elect will begin his journey from Farmleigh House at 11.25am with a 29-personnel Army motorcycle escort to Dublin Castle. He is due to arrive at the State Apartments at 11.43pm.
Shortly before midday the main ceremonial “dais” party will enter St Patrick’s Hall at Dublin Castle. This will include Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Government Ministers and the outgoing the Council of State. The Council of State will be led by the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Susan Denham, and includes former taoisigh, former president Mary Robinson and outgoing President Mary McAleese.
Mr Higgins, accompanied by the presidential party of Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn and Army officers, will join the dais party at St Patrick’s Hall.
Brian Cowen, who stepped down as taoiseach in March, will be in attendance. However, two former Fianna Fáil taoisigh will not attend. Bertie Ahern is abroad for a scheduled engagement and Albert Reynolds is unwell. A Fianna Fáil source said, despite reports yesterday, Mr Cowen had always indicated he would be in attendance. At midday an interfaith service will be held, including Christian, Jewish and Islamic prayers, as well as a humanist reflection.The inauguration ceremony will begin at 12.25pm when Mrs Justice Denham will read the presidential declaration to Mr Higgins, who will repeat and sign it.
The inauguration chair for today’s ceremony was designed and made by Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology Letterfrack graduate John Lee. A fanfare will indicate the new president has taken office and the presidential flag, blue with a gold harp, will be raised at Dublin Castle and Áras an Uachtaráin. Simultaneously there will be a 21-gun salute at Collins Barracks.
Mrs Justice Denham will present Mr Higgins with the presidential seal and Mr Kenny will speak. Mr Higgins will make his presidential address and is due to finish before 1pm. The national anthem will be played and the new president will inspect a guard of honour. The Air Corps will perform a fly-past.
The president and his wife will greet their four children, Alice Mary, John, Michael and Daniel. At about 1.20pm they are due to leave for the Áras. A State reception will take place at Dublin Castle tonight from 7pm.
Among the group from Mr Higgins’s home city of Galway invited to watch the ceremony in Dublin Castle are NUI Galway president Dr James J Browne and Mayor of Galway Hildegarde Naughton.
A few streets near Dublin Castle will be closed but will be open to pedestrians who may catch a glimpse of the new president travelling between the Phoenix Park and Dublin Castle.
Mr Higgins’s impending inauguration was welcomed yesterday by campaign groups, including the Irish Anti-War Movement, Shannonwatch, the Galway Alliance Against War and the Peace and Neutrality Alliance.