FORMER British Prime Minister Blair is to be invited to visit his maternal roots in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal.
A decision to send a second invitation to the former British premier was agreed at a meeting of the local town council this week.
An earlier one was acknowledged by Downing Street which said at the time that Blair was unlikely to be able to fit a visit into his busy schedule while prime minister.
Councilor Phonsie Travers said, “He might have a bit more time on his hands now. I propose that we invite him.”
If the former premier accepts and councilors are optimistic that he will he is likely to be given a civic reception.
Although Blair had an audience with the Pope recently and is said to be considering converting to Catholicism, his wife Cherie’s faith, his Donegal links are mainly rooted in the Protestant faith.
Blair’s maternal grandparents were Sally Lipsett from Ballyshannon and George Corscaden from nearby Cashelard.
George was a member of the Carricknahorna Loyalist Orange Lodge 147, and remained a member for years after emigrating.
He and Sally lived in Glasgow after their marriage in 1918, but she was home on a visit to her family in Ballyshannon when she gave birth to Blair’s mother, Hazel, in 1922.
A few months later George died at the age of 46 from heart failure following acute appendicitis.
Three years later Sally married another Donegal ex-pat in Glasgow. He was Willie McLay, an enthusiastic Orangemen who joined a lodge in Glasgow after emigrating from Laghey, near Donegal Town. The wedding meant he became Hazel’s stepfather and Blair’s step-grandfather.
Blair revealed his Donegal roots when he became the first serving British PM to address a joint session of the Dail (Parliament) and Senate in 1998.
He recalled how he spent his childhood on holiday in Rossnowlagh and Cashelard with his parents, Hazel and Leo Blair. Blair even remembered having his first sip of Guinness when Leo brought him along to the only pub in Cashelard, the Travellers Rest.
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