Clowns to have their day in Dail
Evening Herald
Family Day will see Leinster House overrun with clowns and performers entertaining young families.
Thursday June 12 2008
Leinster House is to throw its gates open to families for the first time later this month.
Parents and their children can roam around the Dail and Seanad for the inaugural Oireachtas Family Day on June 29.
Family Day will feature free events such as circus acts, musical performances and students of the Gaiety School of Acting performing famous Irish political speeches.
Visitors are encouraged to bring their own picnics or they can buy snacks from organic markets in the grounds of Leinster House.
Ceann Comhairle John O’ Don- oghue said the initiative wanted to connect people with politics and the work of politicians.
"This Family Day gives us an opportunity to do this by opening up the Houses of the Oireachtas in a way that I believe will make it more attractive and welcoming for the public.
"It will be a fun event for people, but it is also a very important event when we create opportunities such as this to welcome our citizens into Leinster House which is at the very heart of Irish |democracy."
Details of the event were launched today with the help of a hot-air balloon which marked a balloon flight which set off from Leinster Lawn outside Leinster House over 200 years ago.
Mr O’Donoghue said the Family Day event is part of a new strategy to connect politicians and the work of the Oireachtas with the wider public.
"Research shows that people do not engage to any great degree with politics but it also revealed that the majority of people want more information."
People are asked to reserve free tickets on www.oireachtasfamilyday.ie or telephone the locall number 1890 252 808.
