a cara....an tostal.....ireland at home....this national celebration was thought up by dev.....the original thought was to stimulate .....tourism ..and lure some of the countrys ex pats back home .....but the country was buckled at that time....as sean ocasey....wrote we were but standing on our knees......dev must have thought we all had our hands in public purse...as he and his stoogies....the first year it was launched for easter.....the towns were encouraged to tidy up......no money though from dublin to help ...so the already strapped population were coerced into spending pennies they didnt have ....to fly flags and bunting......every house on mchale road had both irish and french flags flying from their windows....and bunting crossing the street.....it seemed at the time the blue ...white ....and red were given equal status......we were encouraged to have window boxes......and many ....covered their boxes in bark......i remember pulling up in my fathers van at islandaedy.....and going into an estate opposite where sean rice used to live and pulling bark off dead trees....mchale road looking wonderful....in dublin ...dev and his cronnies.....took the salute at the gpo......sean t in his tails and top hat.......later the govt. introduced a commemorative stamp.....i was in ireland for the launch....but like the thousands of young....at that time ...i headed for holyhead and the crown ...in cricklewood....

....tog go bog e.....