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President Mary McAleese speaking to Queen Elizabeth II during her state visit to Ireland in May. AP Photo/Pool
state visits
Shatter confirms the royal and US state visits cost Ireland €36 million
The minister today said that €15 million went on garda resources alone for the two visits in May 2011.
9.07pm, 1 Dec 2011
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THE TWO STATE visits hosted by Ireland earlier this year cost the state almost double what had been expected, it emerged today.
Speaking in the Dáil today, Minister Alan Shatter confirmed that the visits by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and US President Barack Obama cost Ireland €36 million.
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The figure had already been suggested by PJ Stone, the general secretary of the Garda Representative Association, although the government had indicated earlier that the visits had cost the state less.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny had indicated in June that the state would pay out around €20 million for the two visits, while Shatter had said in May that the Defence Forces’ bill for the events was estimated to hit €1.73 million. Shatter’s estimate did not include garda security work and overtime payments.
Today, Shatter said that the cost of the garda operations was €15 million and that “efficiencies” by the gardaí meant that this was covered by the service’s allocated supplementary expenses.
Fianna Fáil TD Dara Calleary raised concerns that some garda operations would be curtailed as part of those “efficencies” in order to cover the cost of the state visits, and questioned where the other €21 million for the state visits would come from.
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@Slippy ❤️: sarcasm mate…sarcasam. I live in Perth and we’ve has the coldest winter in the 6+ years I’ve lived here but Ive no doubt it will be reported as the hottest on record
@Christopher Byrne: higher average global temperatures result in more moisture in the atmosphere which makes storm systems powerful. So yes the strength of this storm was added today b the fact that GLOBAL temperatures are rising. Weather is a global system, it doesn’t care if it’s been cold in Australia lately. Some models suggest that Europe might actually get colder over the coming decades as a result of GLOBAL average temperatures rising if it continues.
@M: Yes, climate models. Very reliable they’ve proven to be….We can’t predict weather reliably 2 weeks in advance but we’re supposed to believe in these models forecasting 30 years down the track as gospel. Despite the fact most if not all of them have failed to accurately predict the future
@Tweed Cap: wow I don’t know how to even begin talking to you when you say something as clueless as that . climate is not the same thing as weather. Are you saying that releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere will not cause global temperatures to rise? …Why not?
@Christopher Byrne: I love listening to people who have read some articles and now know it all. Just proves studying and practicing science is a waste of time, we just need an opion
@Christopher Byrne: isn’t winter 2 months away yet? Also weren’t there record highs recorded in summer in parts of Oz? Also, true or false, don’t parts of Oz have a monsoon season and isn’t this just an extreme version of that?
@Boganity: I think you’ll find you’re incorrect on all points. Australian winter is our summer months. They had record temperatures over Christmas, and there is indeed a monsoon season in parts of Australia.
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