An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD, to attend 175th Thomas Francis Meagher Tricolour Celebration Weekend of Celebrations, 3rd to 5th March 2023, Waterford.
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD, will attend and speak at the 175th Thomas Francis Meagher Tricolour Celebration in Waterford next week. Mr. Varadkar will mark the cultural and historical events commemorating the flying of the Irish National Flag by Thomas Francis Meagher in his native City of Waterford.
Welcoming An Taoiseach Chairperson of the organising committee Ann Cusack says,
“We are honoured and delighted that An Taoiseach can join us here in Waterford to commemorate the first ever raising of the tricolour 175 years ago. The tricolour is not just a symbol of the state but a symbol of peace and understanding which is the message that we are proud to promote.”
The celebration takes place on the 3rd – 5th March and includes cultural, historic events, social history lectures and gala black-tie dinner. There will be an impressive Irish Military vehicle display and Irish Naval presence in Waterford Port.
Mr. Varadkar will be guest speaker on Sunday at the Flag Raising Ceremony at noon on Waterford’s Mall. The Ceremony will include a wreath laying ceremony, military parade and raising of the Tricolour to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the first raising of the Tricolour. Joining An Taoiseach will be members of the Diplomatic Corps including Ambassadors to Ireland from Great Britain, United States, France, Canada, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine.
Retired Irish diplomat Dan Mulhall is Patron of the Thomas Francis Meagher Tricolour movement. Daniel will be on hand throughout the weekend to welcome guests to all activities. Dan’s illustrious career includes being a former Ambassador of Ireland to the United States, Great Britain, Germany and Malaysia. Dan is a Freeperson of Waterford, Freeperson of the City of London. He is an honorary President of the Yeats Society, author, and Global Distinguished Professor of Irish Studies at New York University.
Dan Mulhall says “It is a great honour to have been asked to be the Patron for next month’s commemoration of Thomas Francis Meagher and the flying of our Tricolour for the first time in Waterford in 1848.
“Meagher has to great distinction of being memorialised on two continents, as an Irish patriot and an American civil war general. As Ambassador to the USA from 2017 to 2022, I had the opportunity to visit Meagher memorials on the Antietam battlefield and at Montana’s State Capitol in Helena. I look forward to celebrating our national flag and the man who inspired it in the place where the flag was first flown.”
Joining Dan as a speaker at the Thomas Francis Meagher Lectures at Waterford Medieval Museum will be HE Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland, Vincent Guérend, Ambassador of France to Ireland as well as historian and star Paralympian Jason Smyth and Justice Mary Ellen Ring, Judge of the High Court.
“I especially wish to acknowledge the three participating bands on the Sunday: the Thomas Francis Meagher Fife and Drum Band, De La Salle Scout Pipe Band and the Barrack Street Concert Band. This is indeed a significant weekend. not only in the history of Waterford but in Irish history. I urge all who can to join us in this highly significant weekend of celebration” concluded Organising Committee Chairperson Ann Cusack.
Attendance for weekend activities including the Flag raising, walks and talks, is free. For more information on all the events and indeed about Thomas Francis Meagher visit www.meagherstricolour.com
