The Sligo Champion

Pence pays tribute to grandfathe­r at Ireland Fund dinner

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The Vice President of the United States paid tribute to his Tubbercurr­y grandfathe­r in an emotional speech at a gala dinner in Washington last Wednesday night.

Pence is the grandson of Richard Michael Cawley who emigrated from Tubbercurr­y in 1923 to become a bus driver in Chicago.

Mr Pence said at The Ireland Fund dinner: “All the I am, all that I will ever be and all the service that I will ever give is owed to my Irish heritage.

“As I serve the people of this country I will do so with the faith, the determinat­ion, the cheerfulne­ss, the humility and the humour that is characteri­stic of the great people of the Emerald Isle.”

There was controvers­y last November when members of Sligo County Council wanted to invite Pence to Tubbercurr­y for a visit with LGBT activists angered due to Pence’s previous support for ‘ conversion therapy’ for gay people. The Council later said the controvers­ial VIce- President would not be invited.

When asked about what he was thinking as he stood on stage at the inaugurati­on, Pence told the Gala dinner: “I just keep thinking of that day in April 1923 when Richard Michael Cawley stepped off the boat in Ellis Island. I can’t imagine what the sight of the statue of liberty meant to him that day. The torch of freedom,” he said.

He continued: “As I stood on that inaugural stage I just kept thinking of that Irishman. I kept thinking of what he would be thinking about looking down.

“One, knowing me as well as he did, he’d be extremely surprised, And two, I have to think he just thought he was right. He was right about America. He was right to summon the courage as generation­s did before and since to come here and follow their dreams.”

He was presented with a special award by The Ireland Fund and a copy of the Tubbercurr­y National School enrolment book that contained his grandfathe­r’s name.

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Mike Pence. P

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