The following is a trubute to Ned Doyle of Laragh (1888 -1973).
Labour Party T.D. for Carlow/Kilkenny 1923 - 1932

When the Fourth Dail assembled on the 19th September, 1923,
Ned Doyle became the first Carlow man to take a seat
in an independent Irish parliament.
(Courtesy of the Chronicle)

Tribute to Ned Doyle
of Ballon

They widen roads in Ballon
For traffic to better flow
His widened codes in Ballon
Posterity will know

An agile mind, a subtle brain;
Stout-standing but yet mild,
I met in Connaberry Lane
When I was but a child.

He'd walk among the power that be
And easily with them mix;
Uphold his point, yet join their glee -
This man who built straw ricks.

He stood for Labour, and the seed
He's sown is cherished now;
The right to work, to rear, to feed -
That man knew well the plough.

He knew the man who flew "the plough",
And the wounded one who died;
He saw it then, we see it now,
A worker must have pride.

The pride to raise a furrow straight,
And plough on to the end.
The joy to stand beside work - mate:
For this I thank you friend.

The wheat field is all golden red,
The meadow now is mown;
You're standing on the headland, Ned -
The harvest is your own.