Plans to mark the bicentenary of the 1803 rising were inaugurated at a public meeting in Dublin last night, with organisers pledging to redress the "gross misrepresentation" of Robert Emmet's historical legacy.
Under the title "Emmet 200", the year of celebrations will include art, music, theatre, sports and pageantry. Emmet's links with revolutionary figures in London, Edinburgh and Paris will be highlighted, while a seminar on the rising is also planned. Official commemorations will include a series of stamps from An Post.
The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, told last night's meeting that the ideals of Emmet and his generation were summed up in his speech from the dock, in which he asked that his epitaph remain unwritten until Ireland "takes her place among the nations".
We had come a long way in the past two centuries, realising "some but not all of the ideals of that exceptional generation", Ms de Valera added.
"Today, both the European Union and the United Nations are visible demonstrations of our place among the nations. What is missing is the support for Ireland's international status amongst the Northern dissenting tradition, where the Emmet family had many friends." Ms de Valera was deputising for the Taoiseach, who was in Downing Street. Other speakers included Dr Ruan O'Donnell, who has written a biography of Emmet; and Mrs Justice Susan Denham, who discussed "the Emmets and the law".
The committee behind the Emmet bicentenary is the same as that which organised the 1798 celebrations in Dublin. Chaired by writer and historian Mr Richard Roche, its members include Dr O'Donnell and Sinn Fein's Mr Aengus O Snodaigh.
The 2003 events would provide "a forum for the modern historiography of the period", the group said. Another committee member, historian Mr Brian Cleary, added that it would be a broadly-based commemoration, involving representatives of the many counties with Emmet connections and the communities of Dublin in which he moved: "We want to give ownership of the celebrations to the ordinary people of the city."
Born in Dublin in 1778, Emmet studied at Trinity College until his involvement with the United Irishmen brought an early end to his academic career. After the 1798 uprising he travelled to the Continent, canvassing French revolutionary support.
He returned to Ireland in 1802 and forged plans for another rising to coincide with renewed war between England and France. An explosion at one of his depots forced his hand in July 1803, and the premature rebellion was confused and ineffective. On the run in the Wicklow Mountains, Emmet risked a visit to his fiancee Sarah Curran in Harold's Cross, where he was captured. He was hanged in Thomas Street on September 20th.
