Sir, - I would like to ask the five presidential candidates for their opinions on two matters which will face the successful candidate during the inauguration ceremony. The President elect has to swear an oath, as prescribed by the Constitution in Article 12.8: "In the presence of Almighty God I do solemnly and sincerely promise and declare . . . May God direct and sustain me." The swearing of this oath effectively precludes any citizen who is not a Christian from aspiring to this office. The preamble to the Constitution makes it clear that the oath invokes the Christian God.
The Constitution Review group in its report (1996) accepted the criticism voiced by the UN Human Rights Committee (Report on Ireland, 1993) about the religious aspects of this declaration and its human rights implications and recommended: "Provision should be made for the President to make either a declaration or an affirmation." Do the candidates wish the Presidency to be open only to practising Christians? All the candidates have made much of their concern for human rights, so how would they propose to deal with the very real issue raised by this oath?
The swearing-in of the President will take place in Dublin Castle, "in the presence of members of both Houses of the Oireachtas, of judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Court and other public personages . . ." (Article 12.8). The precedence used to rank the personages at the ceremony places the Roman Catholic Primate and Archbishop of Armagh above the leaders of other Christian denominations and such other faiths that actually receive invitations to the ceremony (not all faiths are recognised for attendance). The Primate is ranked fourth in order at State functions, coming immediately after the Tanaiste, and followed by the Papal Nuncio. This seems an archaic system of precedence in the light of the deletion of the article from the Constitution recognising the "special position of the Roman Catholic Church" (referendum of 1972).
Do the candidates wish to change the precedence at the ceremony? If they do, then it is a simple administrative decision to effect a change: the precedence is not set down in law. - Yours, etc.,
Seaview Terrace, Dublin 4.