Minister Noel Dempsey with Seamus Noonan, SC, and John Ryan artist, at the opening of Mr Ryan's exhibition themed on the Four Courts in Dublin last week.

Minister returns to action following back injury

John Donohoe

Published: Wed 29 Sep 2010, 4:53 PM

The Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, is back in action, having recently suffered a back injury while playing golf in Kerry. On the Saturday prior to the Fianna Fail party 'think-in' in the Ardilaun Hotel in Galway, Mr Dempsey was playing with his brothers, Niall and Dermot, in the Brothers Golf Classic in Kenmare. The 'Focus on Trim' newsletter reported that Mr Dempsey had reached down to pick up a golf ball from some planting, and when he subsequently tried to swing his golf club, he collapsed in agony. He returned to Trim and missed the first day of the party meeting in Galway, arriving in the west for the second day of the conference and straight into the controversy over Taoiseach Brian Cowen's early morning interview on RTE's 'Morning Ireland'. Mr Dempsey has had a hectic schedule of late, with numerous rail and road infrastructure projects in his Department of Transport coming to completion and opening, including the M3, the Dunboyne Rail link, the M50-M3 interchange, the Limerick tunnel and yesterday's (Tuesday) opening of the Nenagh to Limerick stretch of the M7. Mr Dempsey was in Dublin on Thursday night to officially open an exhibition of work of Bective artist John Ryan in the Ormond Meeting Rooms. The event was attended by members of the judiciary, legal professions and individuals from the wider arts community, and was addressed by Seamus Noonan, SC, with Minister Dempsey present as guest of honour to officially open the exhibition, which runs until until 1st October. The themed exhibition shows scenes of the Four Courts by Ryan, the only artist given permission to go inside the Four Courts.