THE POSSIBILITY of US president Barack Obama addressing a mass rally at Croke Park in Dublin has receded slightly due to the tight schedule of his trip.
As of yesterday, the visit to Ireland was scheduled to last a little over 24 hours, with the president arriving on the morning of Monday, May 23th, and departing the following morning for London, where he is due to start a state visit to Britain at 12.30pm that day.
A Government source said yesterday that a public address of some kind was still being contemplated for Dublin on Monday but that it was unlikely to be in Croke Park.
The source said that the best prospect of getting a capacity audience at Croke Park was if the rally were to be held on Sunday afternoon.
While the Government and US ambassador to Ireland Dan Rooney have been working to extend the trip to two days, the provisional schedule has not changed and remains one day.
A separate source said yesterday that organising such a massive event as a rally in Croke Park is becoming increasingly difficult the closer it is to the visit.
This source also cited as a factor militating against a Croke Park rally the additional security concerns now in play following the assassination of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by US special forces in Pakistan over the course of last weekend. The three certain events that will happen during Mr Obama’s visit will be a formal visit to meet President Mary McAleese at Áras an Uachtaráin, a meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny (probably at Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park) and the visit to the village of Moneygall, Co Offaly, the home place of his maternal ancestors.
The Government would also like to include a trade and economic investment forum event in the schedule during which the president could address business leaders, both Irish and American, whose companies are based in Ireland.
“We are a small part of a much bigger programme,” said one source.
“He is beginning a State visit to the UK on the Tuesday. It is not that surprising in the circumstances – and given the heightened security following the death of bin Laden – that the schedule has not changed from one day to two.”
The Government has said that elements of the programme are still being discussed and that the schedule has yet to be finalised.
However, the only possibility open is for Mr Obama to arrive in Ireland a day earlier, as the schedule of the state visit to the UK is already fixed.
Mr Obama’s visit here is not a formal state visit.
Therefore, some of the protocols associated with state visits, such as the laying of a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance, will not have to be followed.