Lenihan to deliver Collins oration

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan will this afternoon become the first ever Fianna Fáil Minister to deliver the oration at the annual Michael Collins memorial ceremony at Béal na mBláth.

The Minister is expected to address the current economic challenges facing the country in his speech.

The decision to invite Lenihan to speak has raised some eyebrows as the event is traditionally strongly linked with Fine Gael.

However, the organisers have in recent years moved to invite others to give the address.

The commemoration is held every year at the spot where the 31- year-old was shot dead during a Civil War ambush.

Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton described the gesture as a "watershed moment" in Irish history

"We have to move on," Deputy Creighton said. "And we have to be big enough to say that Michael Collins - if you admire what he stood for and if you admire the vision that he espoused for Ireland - then you have to say that he doesn't belong to any one party.

"He is a national hero."

Chairman of the event's organising committee Dermot Collins also said they felt it appropriate this year to ask Minister Lenihan to speak as they feel the country has moved on.