THE TRADITION where 170 Army personnel provide guards of honour and escorts to President Mary McAleese when she departs and returns from State visits abroad has been queried by a Fine Gael TD.
Waterford deputy John Deasy yesterday said that the full ceremonial support offered by the Defence Forces every time the President departs the jurisdiction for a State visit seemed over-elaborate in the light of the economic crisis.
But the practice was strongly defended by Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea and the Defence Forces yesterday. They both said they were important traditions that should be upheld and also did not involve any additional costs.
A response to a parliamentary question submitted by Mr Deasy showed that when the President departs on a State visit, some 174 members of the Defence Forces provide full ceremonial support.
They include a guard of honour comprising 107 personnel, the 40-member Army Number One Band, as well as an escort comprising 27 motorbike outriders.
Similar military ceremonies take place when foreign heads of state visit Aras an Uachtaráin.
Mr Deasy yesterday said he believed the President was doing a good job “but I do not believe that hundreds of people need to show up every time she leaves the country.”
However, a spokeswoman for the President said Mrs McAleese travelled on average on only two State visits each year, and had not travelled on any so far this year. She said there was an average of two trips to Ireland each year by visiting heads of state. Mr O’Dea said the arrangements were in line with international practice.
A spokesman for the Defence Forces said, “Providing a guard of honour and an escort brings dignity, bearing, formality, precision and atmosphere to State occasions.”