GOVERNMENT-LED plans to commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising will be drafted by officials over the summer.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny revealed work was under way on preparations for the anniversary when he presented the 2011 estimates for his department to the Dáil finance committee recently.
Mr Kenny said the State was entering a decade during which a series of historical and political events would be commemorated. “Some of these are quite sensitive.” He said that he would bring a memo to Government on the matter.
The Taoiseach stressed he was keen to involve all parties in the State and wanted to set up an “inclusive structure that will have an all-island dimension to it, because some of the events have to be commemorated from both perspectives and there’s a degree of sensitivity about that”.
Representatives from Northern Ireland would also be involved, he confirmed. Academics would be involved to ensure accuracy relating to historical events, he added. “This will go long beyond 2016, right into the next decade.”
Minister for Arts Jimmy Deenihan this week chaired the first meeting of the Oireachtas Consultation Group, which will discuss the first draft of the Government-led programme when the Dáil resumes in the autumn.
The report Mr Kenny presented said a substantial commemoration programme would be produced “in respected of the turbulent period of history which culminated in the foundation of the State”.
Funding arrangements would be addressed by the Government. The Department of the Taoiseach is co-ordinating the programme for commemorations involving the Oireachtas in close consultation with elected and other representatives from Northern Ireland, the report added.
