Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Minister for Transport was invited by the Fighting 69th homecoming celebration committee to attend and speak at a public wreath-laying ceremony on 16 March at the Father Duffy statue in Times Square, which commemorates the tens of thousands of New Yorkers who served with the brigade. The regiment's battle flag was presented to the Irish nation by President Kennedy when he addressed the Houses of the Oireachtas in 1963. This flag is on permanent display here. The regiment is better known as the "Fighting Irish" and is the US army unit with the closest ties to Irish America. It has led the St. Patrick's Day parade up Fifth Avenue in New York every year for more than 150 years, so the Minister did nothing inappropriate.

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