Fine Gael is today celebrating the 75th anniversary of its foundation with an academic seminar in Dublin.
The main Opposition party grew out of the Cumann na nGaedhael political group which helped establish the state in the 1920s and developed many important institutions like the army and the courts service.
Fine Gael was founded in 1933 following the merger of Cumann na nGaedhael, the Centre Party and the Army Comrades Association, otherwise known as the ‘Blueshirts’.
The one-day seminar in the Green Isle Hotel will be opened by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny.
The event will feature Prof Michael Laffan of the UCC School of History who will discuss the early origins of Fine Gael from 1905-1932 while Boston-based author Michael Cronin will speak about the official formation of the party in 1933.
Prof Tom Garvin, of the UCD School of Politics & International Relations, will discuss Fine Gael performance in government since its foundation. The event is being organised by Opposition frontbench TD Jimmy Deenihan who was responsible for similar anniversaries in recent years commemorating the foundation of Cumann na nGaedhael and Arthur Griffith’s Sinn Fein.
More than 1,200 Fine Gael party supporters will later gather in the City West Hotel this evening for the annual Presidential Dinner which will be addressed by Mr Kenny.
PA
