State funeral arrangements: Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will miss the three-monthly meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels to attend the removal and funeral on Thursday and Friday of former taoiseach, Charles J Haughey, who died yesterday.
Informal discussions over arrangements for his funeral at the Church of Our Lady of Consolation in Donnycarney between the State and the family of the late taoiseach began more than two years ago.
Protocol staff in Government Buildings held a three-hour meeting yesterday with senior officers from the Garda and the Defence Forces, RTÉ executives and other State employees.
Mr Haughey was entitled to a State funeral under long-established protocol rules and the family accepted the offer of one when it was made in the preliminary discussions.
Despite criticism from former education minister Gemma Hussey, the main political parties in Leinster House all accepted that Mr Haughey is fully entitled to a State funeral.
Asked for its view, a Fine Gael spokeswoman said: "We have no problem with it. He was entitled to it because the family requested it. We have absolutely no problem with it."
The Labour Party said: "The decision to give a State funeral to former taoisigh is a matter for the Government. As such, the Labour Party has no objection to the decision to afford a State funeral to Charlie Haughey."
Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said: "Mr Haughey's funeral arrangements are a matter for the State and his family but we believe that he is as entitled to a State funeral as all other taoisigh who have died."
Senior officials in the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Defence had preliminary discussions in recent times with Mr Haughey's son, Seán, and brother, Fr Eoin.
The funeral will bear a significant resemblance to the one accorded to the former taoiseach, Jack Lynch, who was buried in Cork with full honours in October 1999.
Mr Haughey will not lie in state because this honour is only awarded to presidents and taoisigh who die in office. The same rules governed Mr Lynch's funeral, a Government official said. However, the public will be given an opportunity on Thursday from 11.30am to 4pm to pay their respects to Mr Haughey and file past his open coffin in Donnycarney church.
Mr Haughey's coffin will be carried by hearse, rather than by military gun carriage, from the Church of Our Lady of Consolation, Donnycarney on Friday to St Fintan's Cemetery, Sutton.
Over 2,000 people are expected to fill the church, which is in the constituency he represented between 1957 and 1992, while hundreds, if not thousands more, are expected to gather outside and along the route. Two big screens will be erected outside the church for the funeral services and a third in a nearby community hall.
The cortege will be escorted by a marching military battalion and band after the requiem Mass and will travel via the Malahide Road to the Artane Roundabout, where the marching military escort will fall out. The cortege will then continue via Tonlegee Road and on to St Fintan's Cemetery. Members of the Naval Service will line the approach to the cemetery, following the request of the Haughey family who wanted to highlight Mr Haughey's links with the sea.
The oration at the graveside will be given by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. He has been asked to review and mark Mr Haughey's life at the request of the Haughey family.
Seating will be reserved at the church services for family, relatives and friends, and for dignitaries led by President Mary McAleese, who is to interrupt her state visit to three African countries to attend.
The Taoiseach will lead a near-full attendance of the Government. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, and the Minister of State for Europe, Noel Treacy, will attend the EU summit in Brussels.
The Taoiseach last night sent word to the current president of the EU Council, Austrian prime minister Wolfgang Schüssel, that he would not be able to attend the summit. Irish officials said there was little of crucial importance to Ireland on the agenda.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Murray, and the President of the High Court, Joe Finnegan, will agree the shape and size of the judiciary's attendance at the funeral at a meeting this morning.
The Ceann Comhairle, Dr Rory O'Hanlon, and the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Senator Rory Kiely, will lead Oireachtas members, past and present.
Members of the Council of State, which advises the President on constitutional issues, are expected to attend, including former taoisigh Liam Cosgrave, Garret FitzGerald, Albert Reynolds, John Bruton, former presidents Patrick Hillery and Mary Robinson, former chief justices of the Supreme Court, Thomas A Finlay and Ronan Keane, and the President's personal nominations to the council, Col Harvey Bicker, Anastasia Crickley, Mary Davis, Senator Martin Mansergh, Enda Marren, Prof Denis Moloney and Daráine Mulvihill.
A statement from RTÉ is expected later today to announce its plans to cover the funeral. It is anticipated that it will offer both live radio and television programmes.
Critical of the decision to offer a State funeral, former minister for education Gemma Hussey said she had always "felt uneasy" that Mr Haughey would be awarded the State's highest honours. "I also think it is unnecessary for the President to come back from a very successful State visit to Africa," said Ms Hussey.
However, the former Fine Gael minister said: "I feel immensely sorry for Maureen Haughey."
