JUNIOR Minister Avril Doyle is now being referred to as the Minister for Commemorations. No sooner has her role as Government coordinator for the numerous events marking the 150th anniversary of the Famine drawn to a close, than she is involved in the Dublin 1798 Committee to commemorate the rebellion, in two years' time.
The new committee under the chairmanship of former Senator Eoin Ryan, whose father Jim was a longtime TD for Wexford, met last Monday in the Tailors' Hall, not far from where some stirring events took place, and was addressed by Ms Doyle, who now has much experience in this field.
Irish American Brian Burns, whose collection of Irish art was opened by President Mary Robinson in the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art in Dublin earlier this month, suggested to the 1798 Committee that the Wexford Senate could be recreated as a forum for the Irish diaspora.