Presenter Patrick Gallagher explains how the 'Democratic Programme' came about.

Ernest Blythe, Richard Mulcahy and Sean Mac Entee recall the first democratic programme how it came about and its impact.

The first meeting of Dáil Éireann took place in the Round Room of the Mansion House on 21 January 1919. To honour the 50th anniversary of the this event the first sitting of the Dáíl for 1969 took place in the Round Room of the Mansion House.

RTÉ marked the occasion with programmes on radio and television. The first ever live broadcast of the Dáil in session on radio and television was part of this output. In 'An Chéad Dáil 1919' ten of the twelve surviving Sinn Féin deputies who were returned in that election talk about the first assembly and the work it did.

The programme was produced by Aindreas Ó Gallchóir and broadcast on 20 January 1969.

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