An Cosantóir

12 | Uachtarán na hÉireann President Mary McAleese talks with An Cosantóir PHOTOGRAPHS BY CPL GREG DORNEY & 105 SQN After her recent visit to Lebanon and coming in to her last few weeks in office after her great tenure of service to our nation, the president spoke briefly to us about her memories of the Defence Forces. Under the constitution, Supreme Command of the Defence Forces is vested in the President. What does this role entail, and how has it manifested itself during your 14 years in office? Operational command of the Defence Forces is vested in the Minister and the Government but the Supreme Command of the Defence Forces is vested in the President – a role often referred to as Commander in Chief and one that I was anxious to signify by developing an active relationship with the Defence Forces both at home and abroad. The staff in the Aras ADC's office have become my friends and colleagues these past fourteen years and of course members of the Defence Forces have played a central role in all the ceremonial duties of the Presidency. I had regular meetings and brief- ings with various Chief's of Staff, visited many barracks, accompanied the troops twice on their Military Pilgrimages to Lourdes, invited retired members of the Defence Forces and families of serving soldiers to the Aras, took part in com- memoration ceremonies, was transported safely to various destinations by the Air Corps and was par- ticularly proud to be the first President to visit our troops serving overseas with the United Nations, of Ireland's most important national engagements with the wider world is our peacekeeping work with the United Nations. Ireland's Defence Forces have served for over fifty years with outstanding distinction and considerable sacrifice. I wanted to honour and draw attention to that work and so my first and last foreign visits as President were to Irish troops serving in Lebanon, where forty seven of our troops died in the service of peace, more An Cosantóir November 2011

• Cover