Good morning. It’s inauguration day.
Catherine Connolly will become the tenth President of Ireland at Dublin Castle today, beginning her seven-year term amid the pomp and ceremony of State’s most formal occasion.
Preparations have been continuing in recent days for the occasion. Dublin Castle is busy this morning and the first guests – including personal invitees of Ms Connolly, ambassadors, TDs, Senators, Ministers and members of the judiciary – will begin to arrive before 10.30am.
The president-elect and her family will arrive at Dublin Castle from Farmleigh – where they stayed in the Steward’s House – before noon.
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They will then be led in procession from the State Drawing Room to St Patrick’s Hall for a service of “prayer and reflection”, which will include contributions from representatives of the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland, the Orthodox Christian Churches, the Presbyterian Church, the Jewish Community, the Islamic Cultural Foundation and the Humanist Association.
At 12.40pm, the Chief Justice, Donal O’Donnell, will read the presidential declaration – the text is set out in the Constitution – in Irish, which will be repeated aloud by Ms Connolly. She will then sign the declaration, and from that moment will be the President of Ireland.
To mark the moment, the Army Number One band will sound a fanfare of trumpets, the Presidential Standard will be raised over Dublin Castle and a 21-gun salute will be fired by artillery crews in Collins Barracks.
The President will then make her inaugural address.
This will be followed by the national anthem, after which the new President will inspect a guard of honour in the courtyard of the Castle and take the salute of the troops, while the Air Corps will perform a fly past, emphasising the President’s ceremonial position as the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces.
She will then depart Dublin Castle for Áras an Uachtaráin, accompanied by an escort of honour, where she will host a lunch for her own and official guests. She is unlikely to move in yet as some minor works – repainting and suchlike – are ongoing in the Áras. She will have the Steward’s House at Farmleigh until the work is finished.
Later this evening, the President will return to Dublin Castle for a State reception to mark her inauguration.
There will be more-than-usual scrutiny of the President’s address. Does she signal an intention to be a voice critical of Government policy if she deems it appropriate? Or will she adopt a more traditional approach? During the campaign, Connolly emphasised both that she understood it is the Government’s job, not the President’s, to make policy – but also that she would speak out if she felt it necessary. How those two things coexist will be interesting to watch.
Each of the last three presidents have, to an extent they felt comfortable with, redefined the role of the President. In his last few years, Michael D Higgins became increasingly willing to articulate positions – especially on defence, neutrality and foreign affairs – that were at odds with Government policy.
If Connolly – who disagrees with much of Government policy, foreign and domestic – seeks to follow that example, we might all be in for a lively time indeed.
Here’s Naomi O’Leary’s take on what to watch out for in her speech
Is there a podcast for that? You bet there is. We have a new morning podcast, the Early Edition. It’s a short guide to the top stories of the day. Listen here
Meanwhile, on Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan, Naomi O’Leary and Derek Scally in Berlin consider the Irish presidency in the European context. Listen here.
In other news
The US government shutdown seems to be headed for a resolution, after a group of Democrats in the Senate signalled their willingness to make a deal.
A resolution too is in sight for the hunger strikers outside the Dáil.
Meanwhile, Ivan Yates did nothing wrong, he reckons.
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Fintan O’Toole on the State’s (non) preparation for a united Ireland
Should Irish really be the “working language” of the presidency?
Radio critic Mick Heaney on RTÉ Radio 1’s big relaunch
Playbook
Things will be getting going about 10.30am at Dublin Castle with the various classes of dignitaries arriving – you can follow events on our live story on irishtimes.com.
Because of the inauguration, the Dáil is not sitting today, and the usual Tuesday Cabinet meeting has been postponed until tomorrow.
Ongoing wrangling in Fianna Fáil over the disastrous presidential election will continue this week and all those TDs and Senators and Ministers at the reception this evening will be watching who is muttering in corners with whom.
It’s Armistice Day, the day the guns fell silent in 1918, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Estimates vary but as many as 20 million people died; 35,000–40,000 Irish soldiers perished fighting on the British side.
