Only some 150,000 came to PF's big Mass in Dublin compared to 1,000,000 for John Paul II in 1979. At 150,000 Mass attendance, the Irish government, in effect, spent 113 euro for every Massgoer. Or put it another way, PF was in Dublin for 36 hours -
$472,000 euros for every hour he was there.
by Ian Mangan
December 4, 2018
I am posting this small item not so much to question the cost of the trip (I have no standards by which to judge the actual costs incurred) but simply to show the kind of expenses incurred by the host
country in hosting a papal visit or a state visit by a majorleader or a papal visit. The figures could well be reasonable, more than reasonable or inflated.
Earlier this year Pope Francis paid a historic visit to Ireland.
The arrival of Pope Francis marked the first time Ireland has hosted a papal visit since Pope John Paul II's visit in 1979.
This year's 36-hour papal visit was met with mixed reactions from many people across the Ireland, with some welcoming the event while many others protested the prospect of hosting Pope Francis due to Ireland's fractured relationship with the Catholic Church.
The attendance for the papal mass in Phoenix park was considerably lower than in 1979 with just under 152,000 people in attendance.
Approximately 1 million people attended Pope John Paul II's papal mass in 1979.
Despite the low turnout Organisers of the World Meeting of families were recorded saying that the entire visit was a tremendous success.
Organisers said that the low turnout was due to poor weather conditions and RTÉ's extensive coverage of the event which meant more people decided to watch from home.
Today, however, the total cost of the visit has been revealed. The entire spend for the event stands at just under €17 million with €800,000 outstanding.
Solidarity TD Paul Murphy shared the figures online via Twitter and slammed the use of public money to fund security and management of the event.
"I've no problem with state facilitating Pope's visit but paying millions for event management and security for a Catholic Church event?"
The breakdown of the the entire cost shows exactly what services the money was spent on to facilitate the visit.
Just under €5 million was paid out to the firm Actavo for camera platforms, fencing and standby crew.
Over 2 million was spent on management of the event including plans, car parks management, advice and consultancy and route management for the pope.
Around €5 million was spent across a number of on site services including hiring stewards, portable toilets, IT equipment, medical provisions, marquee hire, generators, staff meals, ATMS and Tree surgery works among other services.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 06/12/2018 01:23]