Michael Davitt was an "international humanitarian" whose true worth has been "eclipsed by the men and women of the 1916 generation", according to the author of a new biography.
Contemporary politicians owe the founder of the Land League a great debt for a variety of reasons, Bernard O'Hara, registrar at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, has found. A little known fact is that Davitt campaigned for salaries to be paid to members of the Westminster parliament long before payment was introduced in 1911.
Mr O'Hara is the author of Davitt, which was published in Castlebar, Co Mayo, last night, on the eve of today's centenary of Davitt's death. Among those present were 11 of Davitt's grandchildren, the most senior of whom, Fr Tom Davitt, spoke at the function along with Mayo County Council cathaoirleach, Cllr Henry Kenny (FG).
"To understand Davitt, one has to understand his social conscience, and his support for national and international humanitarian causes, including the Boers of South Africa and the Jews of Russia," Mr O'Hara told The Irish Times.
"It was a reflection of his global standing that laudatory obituaries were carried of him all over the world after his death in 1906."
Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív is due to lay a wreath this afternoon on Davitt's grave in Straide, Co Mayo.
The Michael Davitt Memorial Association is hosting a conference from next Friday to Sunday, at which the keynote speaker will be Senator Martin Mansergh. Friday's opening session, chaired by former Irish ambassador Noel Dorr, takes place in the Davitt Centre, Straide, while participants at the Pontoon Bridge Hotel on Saturday will include Davitt biographer Carla King, Donncha O'Connell of NUI Galway's law faculty, Prof Brian O'Connor of Queen's University Belfast, and Fionnuala O Connor and Patsy McGarry of The Irish Times.
Last night's event also marked the opening of an exhibition, produced by Ivor Hamrock of Mayo Library, which covers all aspects of Davitt's life, from his early years and emigration to England to the Land League and his international work.
The exhibition will run in Castlebar until June 30th, and can be viewed on the internet on www.mayolibrary.ie
