Mary McAleese will not wear a poppy at her inauguration on Tuesday, Armistice Day, but it appears others in attendance may. The President-elect is aware that in the North it is seen as a triumphalist tribal emblem, a connotation that seems to have been missed by some of those who argue she should honour the war dead in this way. There are gestures she can make other than wear the poppy. The West Belfast priest Dr Des Wilson said on RTE this week that he was once stopped at the Border by a British soldier who demanded, at gunpoint, that he buy a poppy. When he refused he was held for four hours. Others speak of similar experiences.
In the Republic it is different. Nonetheless, emblems of any sort are generally frowned on in Leinster House, although anaiste Dick Spring, dozens of members, led by the then Tanaiste Dick Spring, wore the white peace ribbon when the first IRA ceasefire broke down 18 months ago; and the green ribbon of nationalists is also occasionally seen. Last November, four members of the Oireachtas wore poppies in Leinster House - they were Deputies Emmet Stagg of Labour, FG's Paddy Harte and Brian Hayes and TCD Senator Mary Henry. Deputy Hayes says he intends to wear one on Tuesday to honour his great grandfather who fought in the first World War. FG spokesman on Northern Ireland Charlie Flanagan will tomorrow, for the seventh year, lay a wreath on the cenotaph in Portlaoise for the hundreds of men from what was then Queen's County who answered John Redmond's call to fight for small nations. He will wear a poppy.
This week Karl Brophy, the deputy press officer for Fine Gael, was asked to remove his poppy by the Leinster House authorities. He was wearing it for ancestors on both sides of his family.