Long serving members of Fianna Fáil honoured

One of the longest serving members of Fianna Fáil in Westmeath, Tom Ledwith from Mount Temple, featured in a video played at the party’s centenary celebrations in Mullingar on Friday last.

He said that 100 years does not feel like history when you are 90.

Tom complimented An Taoiseach Micheál Martin on his achievement in the White House recently, and his ability as an negotiator to achieve what no other state leaders could achieve.

Mount Temple Cumann was established in 1928/29 by the local curate Fr Skelly and Tom’s father was one of the leading members as Fianna Fáil "emerged from the ashes of a vicious and nasty civil war".

Tom recalled one particular night when a large meeting was held in their farmhouse kitchen in Ballymurray.

Tom was nine or 10 at the time, but he still remembers the people who were there and the atmosphere they created.

"We had Joe Kennedy, Frank Carter, Erskine Childers, PJ Lenihan, James J McCauley," he recounted.

He recalled canvassing with his father on a bike as a teenager, and later he helped redevelop the cumann.

Tom urged politicians to emulate de Valera, "a tremendous negotiator", and the youth to "develop the party and their own skills and their own spirit of patriotism".

An Taoiseach Micheál Martin applauded Tom Ledwith for his "most elegant commentary" and "beautiful diction", and his contribution to the party.

All the honorary presidents of Westmeath Fianna Fáil received certificates from An Taoiseach, assisted by Cllr Vinny McCormack.

Among them were Christo Bradley, Des Briody, John Butler, Paddy Connaughton, Sean Finn, Nancy Gavin, Joan Higgins, Jimmy Kane, Tom Ledwith, Charlie Nolan, Bridget Turner, and TR Dallas (Tom Allen).