SURGERY pioneer
Alan Doherty has jetted home from a New York
hospital to attend a gala charity ball tonight at
which Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will be guest of
honour.
Following his visit this afternoon to Buncrana,
Bertie Ahern will travel to Letterkenny for the
Gabrielle's Diary Charity Ball in aid of the Alan
Doherty Fund.
Alan's operation bills
to construct a new chin, have amounted to nearly
$700,000. The bills have been paid entirely by the
Friends of Alan Doherty and their fundraising
activities throughtout the county including
Inishowen, where his father is from.
Friends of Alan Doherty spokesperson Paul McBride
said Alan had been looking forward to the big
fundraiser for some time and was determined to
attend to meet the Taoiseach. Mr. Ahern will today
make his last official visit to Inishowen as
Taoiseach when he visits the
construction site of
the €21 million decentralised social welfare offices
at Ardaravan.
Senator Cecilia Keaveney said the decentralised
offices in Buncrana was one of most important
decisions taken for the peninsula by the Ahern-led
Government. She said the offices would "add
significantly to the status of Inishowen".
