Ireland
The official state car in Ireland is a 1947 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith. Douglas Hyde, the first president of Ireland was provided with a state car, but his severe stroke early into his term of office meant that he rarely travelled in public. When he retired in 1945 the Irish state decided that his successor needed a state vehicle for formal occasions.
The daily transport of the president of Ireland and the Taoiseach (prime minister) are Mercedes Benz S-Class. The vehicles are driven by armed Gardaí (special branch police force). The Taoiseach and his Government Ministers usually sit in the passenger seat of their official cars. The presidential motorcade is led by a Garda patrol car, then the presidential limo with Irish flag and State Harp flag followed by one or two unmarked Garda cars usually BMW 5 Series. The presidential fleet also includes an Audi A6 and a Volvo S80. The Garda Traffic Corps also provide motorcycle escort around the motorcade. When the President or Taoiseach visit Northern Ireland they are driven in bulletproof SUVs.
Read more about this topic: Official State Car
Famous quotes containing the word ireland:
“They call them the haunted shores, these stretches of Devonshire and Cornwall and Ireland which rear up against the westward ocean. Mists gather here, and sea fog, and eerie stories. That’s not because there are more ghosts here than in other places, mind you. It’s just that people who live hereabouts are strangely aware of them.”
—Dodie Smith, and Lewis Allen. Roderick Fitzgerald (Ray Milland)
“No people can more exactly interpret the inmost meaning of the present situation in Ireland than the American Negro. The scheme is simple. You knock a man down and then have him arrested for assault. You kill a man and then hang the corpse.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)
“Out of Ireland have we come,
Great hatred, little room
Maimed us at the start.
I carry from my mother’s womb
A fanatic’s heart.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)