This article is from page 13 of the 2006-05-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
FIANNA Fáil members in Clare will kick off the party’s 80 year anniversary celebrations over the weekend with a commemorative evening in Kilfenora.
The event, which has been organised by the Ennistymon/Miltown Malbay and North Clare sections of the party, is the opening event in a nationwide calendar of events taking place over the weekend.
Retiring Clare TD, Síle deValera, will be guest of honour at the ceremony which will take place in Vaughan’s Bar on Saturday evening.
“The main event of the celebration will be Síle deValera’s speech,” said one of the events organiser, Mary Crawford.
“She will speak on the topic of ‘Fianna Fáil: 80 years on’ and will be the only person to make a speech on the night.”
Another highlight of the night will be a special commemorative booklet compiled by the west and north Clare groups.
The booklet will include a variety of photographs from the last 80 years as-well-as messages from An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.
“It is a compilation of all the things that people have picked up from over the years,” continued Ms Crawford. “All the photos that are in there have some significance for Clare people. For example, there is one great photo of Charley Haughey meeting a group in Miltown Malbay where his driver at the time came from.”
The event will be attended by Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Corofin’s Tony Killeen who remembers some of the parties biggest achievements in the county.
“Undoubtedly, Dr Paddy Hillery signing Irelands accession in to the EU was a major achievement for the party in Clare,” said Minister Killeen.
“Clare has also benefited from the economic revival over the last number of years and Fianna Fáil can claim a lot of the credit for that.
“I have a slightly different view of this from that of other people as I have attend Council of Ministers meetings in the EU and see the level of admiration that is there for the Irish success story.”
The Kilfenora commemoration will be followed on Sunday by a major exhibition of artefacts in University College Dublin. This exhibition will feature a significant amount of photography and election material and includes Fianna Fáil’s first ever policy poster.