Military quick to confirm its neutrality in face of presidential race PR move

Fianna Fáil election candidate Jim Gavin (left) also used this image of him with his arm around Defence Forces chief of staff Rossa Mulcahy

Fianna Fáil election candidate Jim Gavin (left) also used this image of him with his arm around Defence Forces chief of staff Rossa Mulcahy

Mary Regan and Maeve McTaggart

Today at 06:30

Fianna Fáil presidential candidate Jim Gavin was forced to remove a campaign video showing uniformed army personnel clapping as he participated in a road run, after an intervention by the Irish Defences Forces.

The military issued a statement last night to assert that it is non-party political, after both the video of uniformed members clapping, as well as a photo of Mr Gavin with his arm around its chief of staff, were removed from social media.