Hayes' Hotel

This morning I had the pleasure just now of meeting with the pupils and staff of St Patrick's Primary School where Gaelic Games are part of the PE curriculum and what a marvellous achievement.

Three centuries, we're into our third century since the founding of the GEA back in 1884. in Hayes' Hotel in Thurles and here we are three centuries later.

It's a magnificent achievement and their hard work was acknowledged this summer when the school received the North Lancashire Council Gold School Sport Award.

It's been mentioned by the council that a lot of you have travelled to be here today and I would like to pay tribute to the community groups from Edinburgh and I understand that the Little Ireland Arts Collective hosts a regular Kirchall Poro and celebrates Irish culture through music, literature and the arts.

So Cusick was the visionary.

He was the guy, if you look at the whole history, who brought those like-minded people to that infamous meeting that was held in Hayes' Hotel in Thurles on the 1st of November 1884.

And they were back in the days before, you know, radio, before online and the whole piece.

So it was letter writing.