THE GOVERNMENT will commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme in 2016 and unionist leaders should consider a ceremony for the 1916 Rising, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said.
But he warned republican dissidents against using “the memory of the dead to bring suffering to the living”. Northern Ireland Minister for Culture Nelson McCausland was in the audience at Mr Cowen’s address at University College Dublin yesterday.
Both men were addressing a conference A Decade of Centenaries: Commemorating Shared History, organised by the Institute for British-Irish Studies in the John Hume Institute at UCD.
Mr Cowen said: “In 2016, the centenary of the Somme will be commemorated here in Dublin, as in Belfast, to honour the heroism of those who fought and died there, Protestant and Catholic, side by side. I expect, too, that the events of Easter 1916 will be commemorated with respect and dignity in every part of this island. That, I respectfully submit, is a challenge that must be considered by the leaders of unionism.”
Mr Cowen condemned those “who will seek to hijack history, to fight again the old battles, to re-establish hostilities and to perpetuate division. Some will look to use the memory of the dead to bring suffering to the living. To them I would say: Count me out.
“Count out all of the people of Ireland – North, South, East and West. We are united now in moving forward together to a peaceful future. As Yitzhak Rabin once said: ‘Enough of blood and tears. Enough.’
“As an Irish republican, it is my hope that the island of Ireland and its people will again be united. But, if that is to be achieved, it can only be done through persuasion and agreement.”
Mr Cowen noted that the centenaries of the Ulster covenant, the War of Independence, the Government of Ireland Act and the Treaty were also taking place in the coming decade.
Mr McCausland said: “Commemorations can help or hinder a shared future; we must seek to ensure that they help rather than hinder.
“And I would hope that, both north and south of the Border, in these coming years as we go through this decade of anniversaries, that it will be done in a way that is sensitive and interrogative.
“Everyone will have to step up to the mark: government, media, education, academia. Right across the board, there is a need for people to step up to the mark.
“But if we really believe in that vision of a shared and better future in Northern Ireland and if we do step up to the mark, then I believe that at the end of the decade of commemorations we will be further along the road towards that legend and that aspiration,” the Minister said.