Defence forces’ part in Easter parade cost over €200,000

THE PARTICIPATION of the defence forces in this year’s Easter Sunday military parade down O’Connell Street cost the taxpayer €214,663.

More than 100,000 people attended the 90th anniversary commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising.

It was the first military parade along Dublin’s main thoroughfare since the advent of the Troubles in the late 1960s.

Out of the €215,000 cost, €14,000 was spent on aviation fuel for the State’s aircraft, over €41,000 was spent on food for the forces, while €7,000 was spent on subsistence pay.

A further €30,700 was spent on the fuel used to power the vehicle’s driven by the State’s forces.

For this year’s anniversary, the GPO on O’Connell Street was transformed into a national shrine to the rebels’ sacrifice.

An army piper played a lament, Wrap the Green Flag, as the tricolour was lowered to half-mast at the GPO at noon.

Captain Tom Ryan, of the Sixth Infantry Battalion, then went on to read the Proclamation of Independence.

Up to 2,500 members of the defence forces and An Garda Síochána marched past the GPO during the parade with a heavy emphasis placed on their peace keeping roles across the globe.

The display featured army and UN service veterans as well as armoured personnel carriers, artillery guns, an Aardvark minesweeper, tanks and a fly-past by the Air Corps.

Hundreds of specially invited guests — including relatives of those who fought in the rising and British Ambassador Stewart Eldon — were among those who reviewed the ceremony from a stand at the front of the GPO.