Taoiseach's tribute to veteran Meath Fianna Fail organiser

Taoiseach Brian Cowen, who was last week at the centre of talks on the future of Northern Ireland, was in Navan on Friday night to pay tribute to a man who was instrumental in starting the peace process, former Fianna Fail director of elections in Meath, Richie Healy. Mr Cowen had called off part of his visit to Meath on Friday as talks between the DUP and SInn Fein at Hillsborough reached a critical stage, but made it to Navan to honour the man who was responsible for making the early behind-the-scenes approaches which started the peace process over two decades ago. As a member of the Fianna Fail national executive in 1987, Mr Healy, along with present Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, and now Minister of State Martin Mansergh, was asked by the then Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, to travel to Dundalk for secret meetings with representatives of the SDLP and Sinn Fein, including Gerry Adams. It was a high-risk strategy as this was not long after the Enniskillen bombing. The contacts were to be denied by Government if they were revealed. These meetings took place in the Redemptorist Order's Monastery in Dundalk, hosted by Fr Alex Reid, who had also been working to bring Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader, and John Hume, the SDLP leader, together. Mr Cowen said that Richie Healy was a man of loyalty and discretion who had shown his loyalty to Fianna Fail leadership, and to what the party stands for. The party had to move on, evolve, and adapt to societal changes, and adapt its republicanism to the conditions of a new State in a positive way, Mr Cowen said. Referring to the fact that he had left the Northern Ireland talks earlier in the week, and that Foreign Affairs Minister Michéal Martin was still involved in the negotiations, he said that, over 20 years ago, Richie Healy, along with Martin Mansergh and Dermot Ahern, was asked to meet the Northern parties. "Charles Haughey knew that Richie Healy would treat it with the privacy and discretion that was necessary at the time, within the constitutional and democratic principles of the party," Mr Cowen said. And he added that while many others worked on the process later and moved it on, someone had to start it. Mr Cowen said that the present cycle of talks showed the challenge and the endeavour needed to build bridges of trust and break down walls of suspicion, and that peace could not be taken for granted and needed to be nurtured all the time. Mr Cowen said that the Fianna Fail party was very proud, and the Healy family could be proud, of what Mr Healy brought to the organisation. He joined Fianna Fail in the 1950s and took over as director of elections in 1972, succeeding the late Senator Pat Fitzsimons. He went on to preside over 10 general elections, three presidential elections, five local elections and 15 referenda. He epitomised the quintessential organisation man, and was able to adapt to the huge change across the country, and in this county more than most, in its development from rural to urban, the Taoiseach went on. "An influx of people came to live and join those who have been part of this county for generations," Mr Cowen said. "And the ability to adapt to these changes requires people with the foresight to keep the organisation in mind. "The organisation has to go above and beyond personal preferences, and the key to success in Meath was that, for those in charge, the organisation came first, the number of seats came first, and maximising representation came first." Richie Healy represented all of that, Mr Cowen said, and the strong public representation there was in Meath today was testament to this. The attendance of over 200 at the function in the Ardboyne Hotel on Friday night, organised by the Navan Fianna Fail Cumann, included Transport Minister Noel Dempsey, Junior Minister Sean Haughey, Deputies Johnny Brady, Mary Wallace and Thomas Byrne, former MEP Jim Fitzsimons, Fianna Fail general secretary Sean Dorgan and his predecessors, Brian Moran, and Pat Farrell, as well as members of the party grassroots from across the generations, as well as local councillors. Mr Cowen presented Mr Healy with a specially commissioned piece of bog oak by Navan sculptor Eric Flanagan, entitled 'The Director'. Master of ceremonies, Cllr Shane Cassells, explained that it was crafted from a piece of bog oak from Tyrrellspass, 7,000 to 10,000 years-old, and depicted Richie Healy, taking election count tallies and on the phone to "the boss - his boss", CJ Haughey. A separate piece crafted by Mr Flanagan and entitled 'The Footsoldiers' showing a canvasser's hand pressing a doorbell, was presented to Mr Cowen. Mr Healy said he could normally hear the grass grow, but he had heard nothing of this surprise function, and was totally overwhelmed. "To have the Taoiseach, the chief, the leader of the Irish nation, to come to Navan tonight to pay tribute to a humble person who did no more than many people sitting around here tonight is beyond belief," he said. Mr Healy said that the Taoiseach had been up three nights this week. "And doing what? Trying to bring Catholic, Protestant and dissenter together. And he is not the first leader of Fianna Fail that has tried to do the same. That's what republicanism is all about. Wolfe Tone is the father of the nation, and that's what you expect from those who follow him," Mr Healy added.