Ahern to open Douglas Hyde

The Taoiseach is to open a weekend conference being held to reassess Irish leaders of the 20th century on July 16th. The 12th Douglas Hyde conference begins at St Nathy's College, Ballagh aderreen, Co Roscommon, with an address by Mr Ahern's adviser, Dr Martin Mansergh, on "Eamon de Valera, The Reputation of a Stateman".

The following morning Senator Maurice Manning will give a lecture on "The Dillon Tradition 1848-1969" at the recently restored Dillon House in the town square. He will be followed by Prof John A. Murphy who will speak on "John Redmond: Patriot or Stooge" at the same venue.

That afternoon Dr Frank Callanan will lecture at Strokes town House on "T. M. Healy and the pursuit of Negative Hegemony in Irish Nationalist Politics". That will be followed by a talk from Sunday Tribune political correspondent Stephen Collins on "Father and Son: The contribution of W. T. and Liam Cosgrave to the building of the Irish State".

On Saturday evening, in the church at Portahard where Dr Hyde's father was rector and beside which the first President was buried 50 years ago this year, Dr Brian Farrell will lecture on "The Missing Link: The First Dail and Irish Political Development". The conference ends on Sunday morning with a special commemorative service at Portahard.