The Ógra units of Fianna Fáil in Laois and Offaly are holding a special online event to mark the 95th anniversary of the party’s founding on Sunday, May 16.
The Laois-Offaly constituency has been a hotbed of Fianna Fáil activity since the election of Patrick Boland TD in 1927.
Local members have gone on to serve in some of the highest political offices in the land, most notably with the election of Offaly native Brian Cowen TD to the Office of An Taoiseach in 2008.
The party has contributed much to the social fabric of the midlands with the founding of Bord Na Móna, ESB peat powered power stations and much of our educational and road infrastructure that serves us to today.
Fianna Fáil was founded almost 95 years ago when such titans of early 20th century politics Irish politics as Éamon De Valera, the sole surviving commandant of the 1916 Easter Rising; future Taoiseach Seán Lemass; and Countess Markiewicz who would sadly die one year later gathered in the La Scala Theatre Dublin to found a radical new republican movement on the 16th of May 1926.
Fianna Fáil was founded against the backdrop of national disillusionment following a civil war, political imprisonment, and national stagnation with the domination of a political class whose social atmosphere placed emphasis on the maintenance of an outdated pre-independence status quo.
It would go on to dominate, advance and shape Irish politics throughout the 20th century with every leader to the present serving in the Office of An Taoiseach.
The 90-minute online event will kick-off with a historical presentation of Fianna Fáil’s pre-1926 roots in the Gaelic League, Land League and old IRA before moving to a timeline of the party’s achievements in the midlands from the 1920s to today.
This will be followed by a suite of interviews with some of the party’s longstanding members which in turn will move to a live discussion with some of Fianna Fail’s local and nationally elected representatives on the party remaining true to its founding principles before questions, answers and closing remarks.
Invites will be posted on the separate Laois and Offaly Fianna Fáil facebook accounts or alternatively should you like to have an invite sent to you or have any content to share with the organisers then please contact:
- William Delaney, Chairman of Laois Ógra, 087 980 9898.
- Jack Ryan, Chairman of Offaly Ógra, 085 208 2122.
- Alternatively you can email: LSOYogra@gmail.com
