NEWLY appointed Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humpreys, visited the National Transport Museum at Howth recently for one of her first engagements.
The Transport Museum Society of Ireland operates the museum which is celebrating its 65th anniversary in 2014.
After a welcome speech from Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Mags Murray, Minister Humphreys launched the museum’s latest restoration, a 1951 GNR Gardiner single decker bus.
Minister Humphreys spoke about the history of the bus, which was one of a fleet built in Dundalk by the Great Northern Railway.
It was built to the company’s own design. One of the people involved in the design was an engineer called Johnny Owens.
Two of Mr Owens’ daughters attended the event, Val Owens and Monica Lindsay, along with his grandson, Roger Lindsay. Buses of this type operated in the Minister’s constituency of Cavan Monaghan and on some North Dublin City and Fingal area routes.
Councillors Daire ni Laoi (SF), Jimmy Guerin (Ind) and Cian O’ Callaghan (Ind) also attended the event as did Gerry Clabby (Fingal County Council heritage officer), Helena Bergin (Fingal County Council conservation officer), Charles Sargent (Howth Community Council), Mary O’ Donnell (Howth Community Council) and Barbara Geoghegan (Howth Sutton Baldoyle Chamber of Commerce).