Tomorrow when the whole country will be tied up with one of the following: the Tour de France, the World Cup final, the British Grand Prix, the Munster Final, Monday's Orange parades or even Drumcree, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Sile de Valera will be in Portland, Maine, for the John Ford Celebration weekend.
A statue of the movie-maker in his director's chair will be unveiled at Gorham Corner, the Irish neighbourhood where Ford grew up. Of Irish descent, real name John Martin Feeney, he was born in Portland in 1895 and won six Oscars. There's a week of his films in the town and de Valera will be representing the Government while the US secretary of the navy, John Dalton, represents his.