This article is from page 22 of the 2010-01-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 22 JPG
PRESIDENT Hillery’s twin passions of golfing and sailing were subject to strict protocol by the Government, State papers for 1979 have revealed.
The papers released under the Gov- ernment’s 30-year rule showed that specific procedures were in place, which dictated how President Hillery might be able to engage in leisure ac- tivities such as golf and sailing while abroad.
In 1979 he wanted to embark on a two-day yachting cruise outside Irish territorial waters, a move that had government advisers deferring to the attorney general and consulting with the Constitution about what law ap- plied to being outside Irish territorial waters.
Eventually, officials in the De- partment of the Taoiseach advised Taoiseach Jack Lynch that the Gov- ernment could give consent for Presi- dent Hillery’s yachting excursion un- der Article 12.9 of the Constitution which states “the President shall not
leave the State during his term of of- fice save with the consent of the Gov- ernment”.
However, when it came to President Hillery going on a golfing holiday to Boston in August of that year, the De- partment of the Taoiseach bunkered the invitation that came from the Lt Governor of Massachusetts. The in- vitation for President Hillery to golf in a tournament in Boston from Au- gust 16 to 18 came via a phone call to the Irish Consul General in Boston.
“It seems to me to be extraordinary that the Consul General in Boston should recommend favourable con- sideration of a suggestion that the President should go to America to participate in a golf tournament and it is even more extraordinary that the headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs should envisage that the President might accept such an invitation,’ a memo from the Depart- ment of the Taoiseach said.