1916 commemorations

Donegal Republicans Received County Council Funding to Commemorate PIRA Members

| Readers 1816

It has emerged that after a full page advert appeared this week in a local paper across Donegal commemorating the deaths of IRA men since 1921 that these events have been partly funded by Donegal County Council. The Council funds had been supposedly earmarked for commemorations dealing only with the Dublin rising. The adverts listed names of IRA men under what was termed ‘Republican roll of honour Tir Chonaill command’ alongside Dublin rebellion figures. The logos of Donegal County Council, …

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Towards a Unionist Rememberance of the 1916 Insurrection

| Readers 1876

IMPERIAL DEFENCE: In helping to protect what might be characterised as the Imperial achilles heel at the time, the unquestioning devotion of the Loyalist segment of the civilian population of Dublin who did not fight for a rebel proclamation, but did so from inside the barracks at Beggar’s Bush and the halls of Trinity College in defence of the United Kingdom.

Can we ever lay 1916 to rest?

| Readers 1775

Official Ireland’s well known discomfort over how to commemorate the centenary of the Easter Rising  has just been exposed over the prefiguring event, the funeral the previous year of the physical force Fenian, O’Donovan Rossa.  With the failure to consign this heritage to the past in advance,  it seems  possible that there will be a full blown struggle over the ownership and character of the republican tradition in an election year.  If not, it will not be for Sinn Fein’s …

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1916 Centenary – Cherishing All the Children Equally?

| Readers 2093

Yesterday we saw the government reveal more detailed plans regarding the official commemoration of the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Plans to mark this key event in the history of the state include a major exhibition of 1916 archival material at the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks and series of commemorative events, including a parade from Dublin Castle to Parnell Square on Easter Sunday 2016 and a special state reception for the 1916 relatives. In order to …

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Why spoil two parties by rowing about a royal invitation in 1916 that doesn’t exist?

| Readers 42

There is a very peculiar little controversy going on in Dublin over inviting the “royals “ to 1916 commemorations. It involves catty exchanges between Maurice Manning, NUI chancellor, one of several former nearly men in Irish politics  and a part time historian, and the equally learned professional modern historian Diarmaid Ferriter.  In his latest  blast in the Irish Times, Ferriter opposes the idea which the newspaper itself seems to approve.  It would be too much to say that this is a re-run of the …

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