The President, Mrs McAleese, has been urged by human rights campaigners not to attend this weekend's Air Spectacular 2000 at Dublin's Casement Aerodrome, which has been branded a "celebration of militarism". The co-ordinator of Afri, Mr Joe Murray, said it would be "entirely inappropriate" for the President to take part in the promotion of warplanes "as a form of family entertainment".
In a separate statement, West Papua Action, a solidarity group campaigning against human rights violations in Indonesia, said that the air show would have the effect of "softening up public opinion as Ireland moves to an increasingly co-operative position vis-a-vis NATO".