Family, friends, politicians, members of the judiciary and the diplomatic corps made up the majority of guests at the inauguration of President Catherine Connolly as Ireland’s tenth head of state.
Five hundred guests were seated in St Patrick’s Hall for the ceremony, including many of the President’s family. Siblings, including family in the US, were among those who attended her inauguration – none of them public figures.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin arrived with his wife Mary Martin, while Tánaiste Simon Harris attended with his wife Caoimhe Wade.
Following protocol, it was the Tánaiste and the most senior Government Minister, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, who welcomed Ms Connolly and her husband Brian McEnery on their arrival at Dublin Castle.
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Ms Connolly’s sons Stephen and Brian and their partners had arrived shortly beforehand.
Former presidents Michael D Higgins, Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson and their respective spouses Sabina Higgins, Martin McAleese and Nick Robinson were in attendance, as were former taoisigh Leo Varadkar, Brian Cowen and Bertie Ahern.
Former taoiseach Enda Kenny is abroad and presidential candidate and former minister Heather Humphreys is on holidays following the election campaign. Fianna Fáil candidate Jim Gavin did not attend the ceremony.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill arrived together for the inauguration. SDLP leader Clare Hanna and Ulster Unionist leader Steve Aiken were also among the guests. Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly and DUP leader Gavin Robinson had been invited but were attending Remembrance Day events.
Cabinet members in attendance included Ministers Jack Chambers, Jim O’Callaghan, Darragh O’Brien, James Browne, Norma Foley, Helen McEntee, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Martin Heydon, Patrick O’Donovan and Peter Burke.
Government Chief Whip Mary Butler and Ministers of State Hildegarde Naughton, Emer Higgins, Noel Grealish, Seán Canney and Timmy Dooley were also among the guests.
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan and Independent MEPs Michael McNamara and Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan also attended.
President Connolly shook hands with People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett, who has returned to politics after his illness, as she left St Patrick’s Hall at the end of the ceremony.
The large contingent of TDs also included Labour leader Ivana Bacik, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan, Rory Hearne, Jennifer Whitmore, Eoin Hayes, Marie Sherlock, Erin McGreehan, Malcolm Byrne, Cathal Crowe, Paula Butterly, James Geoghegan, Frankie Feighan, Naoise Ó Muirí, Brian Brennan, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, Pa Daly, Louise O’Reilly, Denise Mitchell, Seán Crowe and Dessie Ellis.
Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins and party colleague Richard O’Donoghue also attended. Senators Fiona O’Loughlin, Mary Fitzgerald, Sean Kyne, Joe O’Reilly, Pauline Tully, Michael McDowell, Gerard Craughwell, Sharon Keogan, Alice Mary Higgins and Rónán Mullen were also among the guests.
British ambassador Kara Owen was among the first of the diplomatic corps, which also included Papal Nuncio Cardinal Luis Mariano Montemayor, to arrive.
Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces Rossa Mulcahy, Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly, Mayor of Limerick John Moran and Mayor of Galway Mike Cubbard were also among the guests, as were chief executive of An Coimisiún Toghcháin Art O’Leary, Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy and Cathaoirleach of the Seanad Mark Daly.
Chief Justice of Ireland Donal O’Donnell, who administered the presidential declaration, led the judiciary, who also included Supreme Court judges Gerard Hogan and Séamus Woulfe and High Court judges Cian Ferriter, Barry O’Donnell, Caroline Biggs and Sarah Phelan.
Music at the ceremony was provided by the Army Number 1 Band, harpist Síle Denvir, uilleann pipes musician Eugene Lambe and singer Gemma Ní Bhriain.
