A FINE Gael Senator has criticised the upcoming appearance of Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan at the annual Béal na mBláth commemoration of Michael Collins in west Cork.
In a letter in today's Irish Times, Wexford-based Senator Liam Twomey says Mr Lenihan should not have been invited to become the first Fianna Fáil politician to deliver the oration at the event closely associated with Fine Gael on Sunday, August 22nd.
“I’m against the idea of a Fianna Fáil Minister addressing a Béal na mBláth event for Michael Collins. Béal na mBláth is almost the soul of Fine Gael. It’s recognising the sacrifice Michael Collins made for Ireland. It’s the heartland of what Fine Gael stands for,” Dr Twomey said.
“Nothing personal against Brian Lenihan; it’s just what he stands for. He’s a Fianna Fáil Government Minister. I do actually feel quite put out by the fact that a Fianna Fáil Minister is doing the Béal na mBláth ceremony.”
Collins was minister for finance in the first government after the Treaty was signed and the annual ceremony commemorates his death following an ambush in Béal na mBláth in 1922. Dr Twomey said he grew up “only two parishes away” from Collins’s birthplace at Sam’s Cross.
“The things Michael Collins stood for, not just as a leader in the War of Independence but also as minister for finance, were transparency, accountability and taking responsibility for your actions,” Dr Twomey said.
“If there’s one thing you can say about the Fianna Fáil administration, it’s that it doesn’t stand for those principles. It’s the polar opposite of what Fine Gael and Michael Collins stood for.”
He referred to a “litany of people associated with Fianna Fáil: Charlie Haughey, Bertie Ahern, Ivor Callely, Liam Lawlor”.
A Fianna Fáil spokesman said the party did not wish to respond to Mr Twomey’s comments.
Mr Lenihan was invited by the Béal na mBláth commemoration committee.
The chairman of the committee, Kinsale town councillor Dermot Collins (no relation), pointed out that previous speakers had included former president Mary Robinson and the British film producer David Puttnam.
“In more recent times we’ve tended to open it up to everybody. It’s not just Fine Gael people there. With the peace development in the North, we need to move on from Civil War politics,” Mr Collins said.
Sources suggested a number of Fine Gael councillors in the south west had expressed unease about the event and said they would not attend, but Mr Collins insisted this was not his information.
“You mean has anybody contacted me saying they were going to boycott it? No. I think the overwhelming views of people have been positive, certainly among the younger generation,” he said.
“Since the film there some years ago Michael Collins’s name has been more widely recognised and more appreciated, particularly by younger people. We’re not about condemning any political party. Senator Twomey is entitled to his opinion. Good luck to him.”
Fine Gael TD for Cork South-West Jim O’Keeffe passed the committee’s invitation to Mr Lenihan in recent months. Mr Lenihan thought about the idea for a while and returned “very enthusiastic” about it, Mr O’Keeffe said.
