Dingle fishermen want a plaque for Haughey

Dingle Harbour Commissioners will tonight decide if they will support the erection of a bust and plaque to former taoiseach Charles…

Dingle Harbour Commissioners will tonight decide if they will support the erection of a bust and plaque to former taoiseach Charles Haughey.

The proposal for a large stand and plaque topped by a bronze bust on Dingle pier was made by local fishermen who approached the harbour commissioners individually.

The proposal is expected to be ratified unanimously by the nine-member board, vice-chairman of the harbour commissioners Séamus Cosaí Fitzgerald said.

A Fine Gael councillor and member of Údarás na Gaeltachta, Mr Fitzgerald said he was unable to be at the regular meeting tonight but he would communicate his support to the meeting.

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"Mr Haughey was the first senior minister who took an interest in Dingle," Mr Fitzgerald said. "I have no problem in supporting it."

Dingle fishermen were remaining tight-lipped until the decision became clear. However planning permission has been applied for and a decision by Kerry County Council is expected in a matter of weeks, it is understood.

Mr Haughey, who holidays on his island Inis Mhic Aoibhleain (Inishvickillane) in the Blasket Islands, is a regular visitor to Dingle. Until recent years he regularly started the Dingle regatta and is credited with the transformation of the harbour in the early 1990s.

Former Kerry footballer and Westmeath manager Páidí Ó Sé said yesterday fishermen had always had a great rapport with Mr Haughey and regularly treated him to lunch after the Dingle regatta. It did not come as a surprise to him that they would wish to honour him after all the great work he had done, Mr Ó Sé said.