A birthday party to celebrate 50 years of opera in Wexford town gets under way with music, wine and a promise from the Taoiseach. Guests in the Guinness Storehouse, Dublin, hear Bertie Ahern, say the Government is giving serious consideration to plans for a major performance centre for the town, to cost £21.8 million. Jerome Hynes, chief executive of the Wexford Festival Opera, beams with delight.
Ted Howlin, festival chairman and brother of Brendan Howlin TD, is equally delighted. A key player in raising money from the private sector will be Loretta Brennan Glucksman, chairwoman of the American Ireland Fund, who is present also. Also at the launch of the festival's details is Maireβd Furlong, the longest serving member of the festival board, Kathleen Watkins, a regular at the festival.
Paddy Nolan, mayor of Wexford, is here too. Brendan Howlin, the deputy leader of the Labour Party, is concerned that the festival, running over three weeks from October 18th, will clash with a general election. "That would upset me no end."