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Welcome to Dublin and our special programme marking | :00:21. | :00:23. | |
Today is very much the centrepiece of the commemoration | :00:24. | :00:30. | |
In just over half an hour's time, we'll | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
see the full ceremonial formality, right here in O'Connell Street | :00:36. | :00:39. | |
at the General Post Office, the GPO, the scene of some of the heaviest | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
A military parade is already underway. | :00:44. | :00:50. | |
It is weaving its way through the city, passing | :00:51. | :00:52. | |
through many of the locations intimately connected with the events | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
It will be a day of very mixed emotions, meaning different | :00:56. | :01:02. | |
For many who have a link to the Rising, there | :01:03. | :01:08. | |
What happened a century ago had all sorts | :01:09. | :01:14. | |
The organisers have stressed they want | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
these anniversary events to be mindful of all those | :01:20. | :01:22. | |
who lost their lives during the course of the Rising, | :01:23. | :01:24. | |
rebels, soldiers, police officers, civilians, unionists, | :01:25. | :01:25. | |
In total, more than 480 people. | :01:26. | :01:40. | |
We will hear more about that in a moment and I will be joined | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
by some commentators here at this incredible | :01:44. | :01:45. | |
vantage point right opposite the GPO. | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson is with some of the crowd | :01:51. | :01:52. | |
People have been here since seven o'clock this morning to get the best | :01:53. | :02:06. | |
spot on O'Connell Street. People of all ages from all parts of the | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
world. There is a woman from Germany, a man from Argentina. Lots | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
and lots of people from Scotland. There must be nobody left in Glasgow | :02:17. | :02:22. | |
today. Let's take a closer look. The crowd stretches down O'Connell | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
Street. I'd bump into people from Belfast, Armagh, Newry, Sligo, from | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
Dundalk and from Dublin. It is a big day for Dublin, not just if you are | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
Republican, but if you are curious. As you can see, I am close to the | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
GPU, about 500 metres away. The crowd are being kept a little way | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
back, but of the 1916 rebels. There is a special place for them. A | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
grandstand altered the GPU, including the relatives of of the | :02:58. | :03:00. | |
late James Connolly. I have been speaking to his great grandson who | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
is here from San Francisco and he told me he is really excited to be | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
here in Dublin. Connelly has always been a part of my life. He has been | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
on my work since I was a baby. My father was driven by James Connolly. | :03:17. | :03:23. | |
He was constantly reminding me growing up that James Connolly was | :03:24. | :03:26. | |
your great-grandfather and that you have a personal... Not only a | :03:27. | :03:41. | |
connection, but a responsibility to do the right thing, to treat people | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
as equals, to bring people together and I have tried to do that my whole | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
life and even as a police officer I have tried to do that. I can tell | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
you, he is quite a character. He told me he is a police officer in | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
San Francisco, a rifle instructor. He said guns run in the family. It | :04:05. | :04:13. | |
is worth remembering there were incidents in a few other parts of | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
the country in 1916, in counties Wexford, Galway and me is and we | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
heard about people coming from Scotland. I spoke to a couple from | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
Glasgow who are here because one of their relatives took part in an | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
attack on a police barracks in Ashbourne in County Meath. It police | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
officers, to Irish Volunteers and a civilian were killed during what was | :04:37. | :04:39. | |
a lengthy gun battle in that village. Yet another reminder of the | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
loss of life. The Rising was largely confined to Dublin and it was right | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
across the street here on the steps of the GPU, with just if you bemused | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
passers-by, as an audience that one of the rebel leaders, Padraig | :04:57. | :04:59. | |
Pearse, read the proclamation of the Irish Republic. Shane Harrison is | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
with me. You have been trying to distil some of the core fact of | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
history that have been embellished through the years. The right to | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
mention that a lot of the countryside to Dublin took no part | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
in the Rising. There was huge confusion about whether the planned | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
rebellion would go ahead after an arms shipment from Germany, overseen | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
by Sir Roger Casement, was intercepted of Kerry by the British. | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
There were three groups involved, the Irish Citizen Army, which was | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
made up of mostly trade union activists. It is best known leaders | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
were James Connolly and Countess Constance Markievizc. Then, that was | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
the biggest single group, the Irish Volunteers, formed in 1913 in | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
response to the formation of the Ulster volunteers during the Home | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
Rule Crisis the previous year. Inside it was a secret radical | :05:57. | :06:01. | |
group, the IRB, the Irish Republican Brotherhood. As Easter 1916 | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
approached, they were pushing for armed insurrection overruled at the | :06:07. | :06:09. | |
last minute by the leadership because of what happened to the | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
German guns. The IRB and the Citizen Army proceeded with the rebellion | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
alleyway, foreshadowing a long-running debate in Irish | :06:18. | :06:20. | |
nationalism. The gun versus politics. Battered and bruised, 100 | :06:21. | :06:29. | |
years ago it was from the GPU that Padraig Pearse proclaimed the | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
Republic. The Rising that lasted several days left a city in ruins | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
with nearly 500 dead, predictably, mostly civilians. The rebellion took | :06:40. | :06:42. | |
place against a background of delayed home rule and tens of | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
thousands of Irish men dying on the Western Front in the First World | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
War. While most people see the events of Easter week as a key | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
moment in Irish independence, a former Taoiseach believes the blood | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
sacrifice involved was unnecessary. After all, Scotland had an | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
independence referendum two years ago. I think Ireland would have had | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
a referendum or some other consultation in the 1920s or the | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
1930s. Looking for a much greater independence, if not complete | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
independence. I think, unlike Scotland, it would have passed | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
because in the Irish case, people wanted independence for its own | :07:23. | :07:28. | |
sake, not because of financial advantages or perceived financial | :07:29. | :07:30. | |
advantages, which seemed to weigh a lot in the Scottish mind. East of | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
making 16 was part of the insurrectionary tradition in Irish | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
nationalism but there was also a Parliamentary one. It is estimated | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
at only a third of the people had the thought that the town because of | :07:44. | :07:46. | |
property qualifications and a lack of female suffrage. Unlike John | :07:47. | :07:50. | |
Bruton, the president believes the Rising was necessary. I think the | :07:51. | :07:57. | |
balance now amongst historians, not just here, but abroad and in Britain | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
as well, is that it did need this event and it is this an event which | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
gave us the space and the capacity for independence and freedom. In | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
1918, men and women voted overwhelmingly in southern Ireland | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
for Sinn Fein, with its aims similar to those of the rebels. In the | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
north, unionists got a similar mandate, almost a petition of sorts. | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
According to the estimates which do vary, more than half of those killed | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
during the Rising and in the days afterwards, or civilians. That is | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
some 260 people. More than 100 to the soldiers and 80 rebels were also | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
killed and 17 policemen lost their lives. Three of those policemen or | :08:39. | :08:44. | |
from the Dublin Metropolitan Police, the others were from the Royal Irish | :08:45. | :08:48. | |
Constabulary, which released the rest of the country. Mark since and | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
has been speaking to a relative of one police officer who was killed | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
during the Rising. One of the striking features of the day is the | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
fact that the Irish government were going out of the way to remember the | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
1916 rebels, but all of those who died 100 years ago this weekend. | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
Including police officers, including 23-year-old Constable Charles | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
McGhee. The young Catholic from County Donegal who was killed in | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
County Louth as disturbances spread around the country. His relatives | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
are here, including his grand niece, Doctor Marge O'Boyle. I spoke to | :09:28. | :09:34. | |
earlier. I am proud that the memory of Charles McGhee is finally being | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
recognised after 100 years. There was no mention of victims of the | :09:39. | :09:47. | |
Rising up until now in all the commemorations of the 1916 Rising, | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
only the leaders and those who proclaimed the Republic, were | :09:51. | :09:57. | |
mentioned. Only they were commemorated. Now, I think this year | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
that victims like Charles McGhee are being recognised. I set out to | :10:02. | :10:08. | |
ensure that his memory would live down through the generations and I | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
know now that I have finally achieved that. I will be very proud. | :10:14. | :10:20. | |
So many people, so many fascinating stories. I will be speaking to some | :10:21. | :10:27. | |
of the crowd. Easter in the calendar is a movable feast. It is | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
particularly early this year and it is important to note that the gate | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
does not represent the actual anniversary. The Rising began on | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
Easter Monday 1916 and that was the 24th of April. We are expecting the | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
main ceremony to begin here at the GPO shortly. Some events have | :10:47. | :10:52. | |
already taken place this morning and getting us through the formalities, | :10:53. | :10:55. | |
from our commentary position, is my colleague, Seamus McKee. We are | :10:56. | :11:02. | |
watching the arrivals of the dignitaries, the Taoiseach and | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
president. Dublin, a city that piece this morning. This time 100 years | :11:07. | :11:13. | |
ago it was a city unsuspecting. This morning, it is expected. Conscious | :11:14. | :11:16. | |
of a moment in history being relived. Earlier this morning there | :11:17. | :11:22. | |
was a military ceremony at a place which perhaps more than any other | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
transform the narrative. Kilmainham Gaol. The prison with the leaders | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
and others were executed turning the Rising into what some have described | :11:33. | :11:41. | |
as a triumph of failure. In the weeks after the Rising 14 of the | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
rebels, including all seven signatories of the Proclamation | :11:47. | :11:49. | |
faced firing squads in the Stonebraker's yard at Kilmainham. | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
This morning, Reeves were left where they died. Among those attending the | :11:55. | :12:01. | |
president, the Taoiseach and government ministers. They observed | :12:02. | :12:12. | |
a minute 's silence. The executions took place here between the third | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
and the 4th of May 1816. The first to die was Padraig Pearse. In a | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
letter to his mother two days before his death he wrote, people will say | :12:22. | :12:27. | |
hard things others now, but we shall be remembered by posterity and | :12:28. | :12:29. | |
blessed by unborn generations. The executions market at Kilmainham | :12:30. | :12:44. | |
Gaol this morning, as much as the Rising itself, helped change the | :12:45. | :12:45. | |
course of history. The defence minister being welcomed | :12:46. | :13:06. | |
to this ceremonial. President Higgins now on his way to his place | :13:07. | :13:13. | |
here at the GPO. He has referred, prior to this commemoration, to the | :13:14. | :13:16. | |
discrimination against women that persisted into the early years of | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
the free State. And the work that remained to be done, he said, if the | :13:21. | :13:27. | |
Republic is to live up to the dreams of revolutionary women of the last | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
100 years. These are the words of the poet, but Higgins. I write it | :13:33. | :13:47. | |
out in a verse, she said, Constance Markiewicz, may more, Kathleen Lynn, | :13:48. | :13:58. | |
Rose McNamara, Kitty Fleming. The men of 1916, she wrote, did not sit | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
back and wait in the wings of history. As the ceremonial unfolds, | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
these are some of the reflections prompted by it today. | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
Many of the relatives of those who took part in the Rising | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
Earlier this week we heard from the grandchildren of three | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
My grandfather on my mother 's side was a determined in the factory | :14:26. | :14:40. | |
during the Rising. He was in various locations around O'Connell Street. | :14:41. | :14:46. | |
He got out, he was one of the lucky ones, he survived it. He was not | :14:47. | :14:53. | |
jailed at the end of it. That was his participation in it. Molly | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
O'Reilly was 15 years of age when she participated in the Rising. The | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
year before, she joined the Irish Citizen Army and was based in | :15:03. | :15:06. | |
Liberty Hall full-time and witness statements that has been said that | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
Molly was the most trusted messenger. It week before the | :15:12. | :15:15. | |
Rising, James Connolly centre her and she thought she was in trouble | :15:16. | :15:21. | |
but he sent for her and he asked her to hoist first flagged over Liberty | :15:22. | :15:29. | |
Hall. It was to declare that far part of Dublin three of imperialism. | :15:30. | :15:36. | |
My grandfather Frank Henderson was a captain in the GPO Garrison, as also | :15:37. | :15:44. | |
was his brother. They went into the GPO and they had prisoners with them | :15:45. | :15:47. | |
and they were being shot at by their own because they saw the prisoners, | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
their British uniforms. James Connolly had to rush out into the | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
street and tell them, stop, stop! They got into the GPO and Padraig | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
Pearse congratulated them because they never thought they would make | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
it in. But Frank and his brother were then continuously in the | :16:07. | :16:14. | |
action, if you can call it that. They were charged to burrow through | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
the buildings. When they were arrested, he was there with some of | :16:20. | :16:27. | |
the leaders. They were marched down to the Rotunda. They were kept there | :16:28. | :16:34. | |
overnight and in terrible conditions. He was one of the last | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
to leave the GPO and he was one of the last to leave, he got out on | :16:40. | :16:47. | |
Christmas Eve 1916. All the leaders, they were not men of violence, they | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
were not the literary people, they were poets and scholars, writers and | :16:53. | :17:01. | |
teachers. They had a vision for Ireland and what had happened under | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
British rule, all the Irishness was taken out, you were not allowed to | :17:06. | :17:08. | |
speak the Irish language, you were put in jail. My own grandfather, he | :17:09. | :17:19. | |
lost his job because when the king of England was coming over on a | :17:20. | :17:22. | |
visit, he refused to go out and waive the union Jack flag and he | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
lost his job because of that. I think it was right for | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
self-determination which is a right that has only come into its own in | :17:33. | :17:39. | |
the latter half of the last century. We were a very old nation, a young | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
state. As then 100 years of state and I think these were visionaries. | :17:45. | :17:53. | |
It wasn't their intent for violence. It was an intent for | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
self-determination, against oppression and a right to be | :17:59. | :18:05. | |
independent. They wanted their own Republican recognition along with | :18:06. | :18:07. | |
the culture and all the good things that go with it. That is what they | :18:08. | :18:11. | |
were aiming for at the end of the day. It's just the way things turned | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
out. Among the civilians who died | :18:16. | :18:17. | |
in Easter week was a child of 22 The names of just | :18:18. | :18:20. | |
a handful of the dead They were among | :18:21. | :18:28. | |
the rebel leadership. All of the names will be | :18:29. | :18:31. | |
on a memorial wall to be unveiled With me now is Jane Ohlmeyer, | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
Professor of Modern History As we look back to the rebel | :18:36. | :18:54. | |
leaders, an eclectic group of people, veteran republicans, poets, | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
socialists. How did that leadership gel together? The first thing is, it | :18:59. | :19:05. | |
is a motley crew, none of them had military experience so we would have | :19:06. | :19:08. | |
Thomas Clarke, the most senior figure. He would have been a great | :19:09. | :19:13. | |
opinion leader who had been incarcerated in a British jail for | :19:14. | :19:20. | |
15 years and was passionate about the republican movement. Alongside | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
him, we had people who were very committed, not just Irish separatism | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
but also to cultural naturalism. Four of the seven centuries of the | :19:32. | :19:33. | |
proclamation were actually playwrights. They were committed to | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
begin a clique and the Irish language and creating a new Ireland. | :19:40. | :19:44. | |
We can see the Taoiseach writhing for the ceremony outside the GPO. | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
The place has a lot of military personnel here today. That is | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
something not uncommon at the time of the Rising in 1916. How did that | :19:54. | :20:04. | |
military aspect confuse matters are complicated matters for the rebels | :20:05. | :20:07. | |
in the fighting? You must remember that Ireland and Britain were in the | :20:08. | :20:12. | |
middle of a Great War that had begun in 1914 and so you would have had a | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
lot of military personnel, British personnel, may be back on leave. | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
Over 250,000 Irishmen served to fight in a Great War and of course | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
many of them died in Flanders at the Somme. It was a very, very important | :20:31. | :20:40. | |
aspect of it. The fate of the civilians during the Rising, many | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
wondered, many died, 40 children died in the Rising. That seems to | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
have come to prominence more in recent times. How has that changed | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
the story of the Rising? It has helped to humanise the story of the | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
Rising but it shouldn't surprise us that there were many civilian deaths | :21:00. | :21:02. | |
is because here we are in book on Wall Street and there would have | :21:03. | :21:08. | |
been a lot of tenement buildings around this main city street and | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
these were some of the worst tenements in Western Europe and | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
people would have been leading extremely poor with high mortality | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
rates, high unemployment and of course many of these men had gone to | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
take the Kings chilling in the Great War so there was some income coming | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
back but the fact that the rebels decided to take the GPO is very | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
significant because it meant they would be a that houses. We can see | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
pictures, the parade started at Saint Stephen 's Green, and will | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
arrive here outside the GPO O'Connell Street. Outside the GPO, | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
Padraig Pearse, the rebel leader, read out the proclamation. If we | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
look at that in the context of 2016, how radical was that proclamation | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
and what was contained in it, the words that the leaders had written? | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
At one level, it was a very hasty manifesto that has been drawn up but | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
of course, it was hugely symbolic blow Padraig Pearse would have read | :22:15. | :22:17. | |
it to a rather Bob The Builder grip of onlookers but anyway, it declares | :22:18. | :22:24. | |
Ireland was to be a sovereign republic, it invokes the years of | :22:25. | :22:31. | |
occupation and also recites the six other occasions that Irishmen had | :22:32. | :22:38. | |
taken up arms against Britain. There was a real sense of equality, Irish | :22:39. | :22:46. | |
and Irishwoman, no doubt these where James Connolly 's words as much as | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
Padraig Pearse's as we don't actually know who wrote the | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
proclamation. There were seven signatories and Thomas Clarke is the | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
first is the most senior signatory. The other thing about the | :23:01. | :23:02. | |
proclamation is that it was very much a blood sacrifice. Padraig | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
Pearse new at the could not take on the might of the British Army so it | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
was going to end as a Greek tragedy, some have said. You spoke about the | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
small, bemused group of bystanders. Today the streets of Dublin are | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
thronged with people who have come here for the spectacle, come to | :23:24. | :23:31. | |
remember. For the people of 1916, there wasn't a general welcome for | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
the rebellion straight after. How radical or drastic was the change of | :23:36. | :23:40. | |
opinion once the rebels were executed? There was a little support | :23:41. | :23:44. | |
for the rebellion initially and it was only as the British authorities | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
began to execute the leaders but also they rounded up thousands who | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
had very little to do with the Rising so what we see is very | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
quickly popular opinion starting to shift here in Ireland but also in | :23:59. | :24:04. | |
Britain and United States. However it shouldn't take away from the | :24:05. | :24:07. | |
significance of what happened here because what it did lead to of | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
course was an unstoppable process that resulted in the separation of | :24:13. | :24:15. | |
Ireland from Great Britain and of course the partition of North and | :24:16. | :24:22. | |
South. We can see pictures now of the cavalcade coming up O'Connell | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
Street appear to the GPO which was effectively in ruins and much of the | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
street was in ruins after the bombardment by the British forces of | :24:33. | :24:38. | |
the rebels. The facade has been kept intact but this would have been a | :24:39. | :24:40. | |
completely different scene 100 years ago Al-Hasawi there was utter | :24:41. | :24:46. | |
devastation here. The facade is all that survives in terms of the GPO | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
but all of the area around Laura O'Connell Street had been blasted by | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
a British ship which had come up the River Liffey and it really was utter | :24:59. | :25:04. | |
devastation. Here we are, the second city of the British Empire, utterly | :25:05. | :25:11. | |
destroyed by the British themselves. The President, Michael D Higgins has | :25:12. | :25:19. | |
just arrived. Being greeted by the Taoiseach. We are approaching the | :25:20. | :25:25. | |
formalities of today. And the commemoration of the 1916. At the | :25:26. | :25:33. | |
moment at least, the rain has stayed off. It is a nice, dry atmosphere | :25:34. | :25:41. | |
and nice weather for all of the crowds that are lining the street. | :25:42. | :25:43. | |
Let's go back to Mark Simpson on the ground here outside the GPO. | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
I am with people from Kilkenny. Explain Whiteley decided to make the | :25:49. | :25:58. | |
journey today? My husband is a member of the defence forces so he | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
is working here today. I have two sons also members of the defence | :26:04. | :26:10. | |
forces and my nephew is marching as part of the parade today so very | :26:11. | :26:13. | |
proud to be here and excited as well. What is your feeling about the | :26:14. | :26:23. | |
public mood today in Dublin? The public mood is really, really good. | :26:24. | :26:26. | |
It is a great day for the Irish people. We are blessed with the | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
weather as well. A lot of people have been looking forward to this | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
day and a huge amount of preparation has taken place so it's just | :26:37. | :26:39. | |
wonderful that all of the Irish people can share in all of this and | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
we are in the capital city and right beside the GPO where it all | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
occurred. What do you say to the critics who say that Irish people | :26:49. | :26:52. | |
just dwell too much on the past and you are dragging it all up again? | :26:53. | :26:59. | |
Have to celebrate our country and let's go forward. We wish you well | :27:00. | :27:01. | |
and we hope it stays dry. The ceremony is about to start. Let | :27:02. | :27:14. | |
me sing Chewbacca Seamus McKee. President begins moving to his | :27:15. | :27:18. | |
place. Two former presidents are here, Robinson and McAleese. When | :27:19. | :27:26. | |
the Queen visited in 2011, she said, Madam President, speaking here in | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
Dublin Castle, it is important -- impossible to ignore the weight of | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
history. As it was when you and I laid wreaths at the Garden of | :27:36. | :27:39. | |
remembrance. They did that in memory of those who died for Irish freedom. | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
The weight of history so much in evidence. The Royal College of | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
surgeons was one of the garrisons occupied by the rebels during Easter | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
week. Earlier there was ceremony there are. They retreated to The | :27:55. | :27:56. | |
Royal College of surgeons. During that ceremony, two flags were | :27:57. | :28:07. | |
handed over, the Irish Republic flag and the Starry Plough flag. The | :28:08. | :28:14. | |
Irish Republic flag flown over the GPO in O'Connell Street. It was the | :28:15. | :28:19. | |
headquarters of the provisional government of Ireland. The flag was | :28:20. | :28:22. | |
kept as it were a trophy and became the property of the King George V. | :28:23. | :28:28. | |
The starry plough was the flag of the Irish Citizen Army created by a | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
Belfast artist. He taught in the School of Art in Dublin. As the | :28:34. | :28:42. | |
president reviews his escort, in 1916, that flag, the starry plough, | :28:43. | :28:48. | |
flew from the Hotel opposite the GPO. It was thought to have been | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
destroyed but survived and was taken as a souvenir by a British officer. | :28:53. | :28:56. | |
The National Museum of Ireland got the flag from him in 1955. That | :28:57. | :29:04. | |
speak again to Professor Jane. 100 years on, have the events today | :29:05. | :29:09. | |
drawn a line under the past and put the Rising 100 years ago? I think it | :29:10. | :29:15. | |
is important that we never forget the past, because it has shipped us | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
and who we are. Ie The feeling that this has given us a great | :29:21. | :29:24. | |
opportunity to reimagine a new Ireland, and Ireland for the | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
21st-century, and Ireland that really impresses pluralism and | :29:29. | :29:33. | |
diversity. I feel it is an important moment as we look to the future as | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
well as remembering the past. Edmund Burke said those who do not know | :29:39. | :29:46. | |
history risk repeating it. This week is very much been about remembering | :29:47. | :29:50. | |
the past and reigniting that in regard to the minds of the new and | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
present generation. That is very important. It is also very important | :29:56. | :30:00. | |
we remember that the events that occurred here in 1916 also had | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
global resonances. We saw it impact across the British Empire. Minutes | :30:07. | :30:14. | |
away now from the start of the ceremony which will be at the heart | :30:15. | :30:21. | |
of the commemoration today. Worth remembering that the defence forces | :30:22. | :30:28. | |
we are seeing on parade today are serving very much a peaceful purpose | :30:29. | :30:34. | |
as they have done on so many occasions in so many places around | :30:35. | :30:42. | |
the world. They trace their history back to the Irish Volunteers founded | :30:43. | :30:49. | |
in 1913 in Dublin, among whose founders were Eoin MacNeill and | :30:50. | :30:54. | |
Patrick Pearse. The cap badge of the present defence forces is derived | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
from the barge of the Irish Volunteers. It was designed by | :30:59. | :31:05. | |
Professor McNay himself. Born in County Antrim, educated at Saint | :31:06. | :31:14. | |
Malachy 's College in Belfast. Frances Johnson's imposing structure | :31:15. | :31:20. | |
of stone and granite as the president takes place salute in | :31:21. | :31:24. | |
front of it, brings grandeur to O'Connell Street as it has done for | :31:25. | :31:31. | |
200 years. The GPO, a centre of business and public service today | :31:32. | :31:38. | |
becomes, as it does every Easter Sunday, but today it is a place of | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
commemoration, remembrance, but today particularly considerable | :31:44. | :31:51. | |
pageantry. In the centre window, on the ground floor, barely visible | :31:52. | :31:57. | |
from outside, Oliver Shepherd's Bronze statue of Cuchulain, a | :31:58. | :32:01. | |
memorial to the participants in the Rising, inscribed with the names of | :32:02. | :32:04. | |
the seven signatories of the proclamation. A former assertion of | :32:05. | :32:10. | |
the Irish Republic as a sovereign, independent state and the | :32:11. | :32:11. | |
declaration of rights. Ladies and gentlemen. The national | :32:12. | :32:38. | |
flag over the General Post Office will now be lowered to half-mast. | :32:39. | :32:56. | |
This, the protocol, the flag lowered to half-mast for every | :32:57. | :33:02. | |
commemoration. Above the pillared portico is, | :33:03. | :33:31. | |
statues of mercury and fidelity. Ladies and gentlemen, the head | :33:32. | :33:37. | |
chaplain to the forces, Father Seamus Madigan, will now lead us | :33:38. | :33:42. | |
prayer. He has served on peacekeeping missions in Kosovo, | :33:43. | :33:48. | |
Chad and 11 on. Edge and the letting on. A prayer of remembrance. God | :33:49. | :34:04. | |
most merciful and kind, on this Easter day of new beginnings we | :34:05. | :34:08. | |
remember the men, the women and the children of 1916 whose short lives | :34:09. | :34:17. | |
and big dreams extended the horizons of our hopes. In your mercy, the | :34:18. | :34:27. | |
faithful departed find rest. Look kindly, we pray, one all who lost | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
their lives during 1916 and throughout the troubled journey of | :34:32. | :34:48. | |
our island. As we reflect on our past, we thank you for all the | :34:49. | :34:52. | |
courageous people of Ireland who dared to hope and dream of a | :34:53. | :34:59. | |
brighter tomorrow for our country and all of its citizens. Bless it | :35:00. | :35:06. | |
are those who sought to build a more inclusive and just society, for they | :35:07. | :35:14. | |
are truly the chosen of God. Look kindly, we pray, on the people of | :35:15. | :35:20. | |
Ireland from all traditions, at home and abroad. Help us listen and | :35:21. | :35:31. | |
respond to the voices that challenge in 2016 as we reimagine our future. | :35:32. | :35:40. | |
Conscious of our troubled past, to you God, we sing a new song, a song | :35:41. | :35:47. | |
of compassion, inclusion and engagement. A song of listening, | :35:48. | :35:58. | |
social justice and respect. A song of unity, diversity, equality and | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
peace. A song of Kidman Failte and respect our environment. With you, O | :36:05. | :36:12. | |
Lord, we yearn to sing a new song in a spirit of true freedom. Loving you | :36:13. | :36:22. | |
know Mike Friel heart and my frayed history and now, another day begins. | :36:23. | :36:31. | |
Give us courage to step onto new ground, I young again with energy | :36:32. | :36:39. | |
and dreams. Help us to believe in beginnings, to listen to the voices | :36:40. | :36:44. | |
that challenge and to sing a new song for Ireland. Together, on this | :36:45. | :36:52. | |
island, we have achieved a new peace. We cherish that peace as we | :36:53. | :36:58. | |
cherish all of the children of this island equally. We pray for all | :36:59. | :37:05. | |
those who have suffered in the troubles of the past century and we | :37:06. | :37:14. | |
hope for peace and reconciliation in the century that stretches before | :37:15. | :37:15. | |
us. Praise God for ever. I now invite | :37:16. | :37:43. | |
children from each of the four provinces of Ireland to lay flowers | :37:44. | :37:51. | |
on this historic ground as a symbol of our unshakeable resolve to live | :37:52. | :37:59. | |
together on this island in peace and harmony. And now a piper plays a | :38:00. | :38:10. | |
lament as the children representing the four provinces lay flowers. From | :38:11. | :38:21. | |
Commack, Liam Henry from County Mayo, he is ten. From Munster, Alex | :38:22. | :38:28. | |
Lucas from Waterford. From Ulster, Tony O'Brien, from County Antrim, he | :38:29. | :38:36. | |
is ten. 38 children were killed but Easter week. Among them, Christopher | :38:37. | :38:45. | |
Cathcart, aged ten, shot dead in crossfire at Portobello Bridge. He | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
was one of nine children who shared a six room house with three other | :38:50. | :38:57. | |
families. William Mullen from Miller Street was nine. He was shot as | :38:58. | :39:04. | |
rebels retreated. He died at home without medical attention just a few | :39:05. | :39:07. | |
hundred yards from where this ceremony is taking place. Walter | :39:08. | :39:16. | |
Scott was it. The last child to die as a result of being shot in the | :39:17. | :39:20. | |
week of the Rising. He was killed at the east Wall by a bullet from the | :39:21. | :39:23. | |
British gunship Helga. And now, the combined feature the | :39:24. | :39:55. | |
band featuring band members from both bands will play Danny boy to | :39:56. | :39:57. | |
the chewing of the Londonderry air. The song was published just a few | :39:58. | :40:18. | |
years before the rebellion. The lyrics chime with the young men | :40:19. | :40:22. | |
going to war on the Western Front and with those who joined the fight | :40:23. | :40:27. | |
for Irish freedom. James Connolly and Michael Mullen, two of the | :40:28. | :40:30. | |
leaders of the rebellion, had previously served in the British | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
Army. Connolly's brother, John, was still serving at the time of the | :40:36. | :40:41. | |
Rising. 41 Irish men in the British Army died in action during the | :40:42. | :40:46. | |
Easter week. Lance Corporal Nathanial Morton from the race -- | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
Royal Irish Fusiliers. He was 19, from Belfast. Private Joseph Cullen, | :40:53. | :40:59. | |
from the shackle in Belfast was with the Fusiliers. Rifleman James | :41:00. | :41:06. | |
McCullough from Donaghadee was killed. Alexander Maclennan of the | :41:07. | :41:10. | |
rifles is buried in Grey Abbey Cemetery. Private John Hannah from | :41:11. | :41:13. | |
Belfast was another among the British dead. | :41:14. | :41:29. | |
The proclamation we are about to hear invokes the dead generations. | :41:30. | :41:36. | |
In this year of centenary is, the different traditions on this island | :41:37. | :41:40. | |
are reflecting on feeling excluded from the commemorations or if there | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
is anything that unites them in honouring their cherished dead. | :41:46. | :42:50. | |
The proclamation will be read by Captain Peter Kelleher from Cork. He | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
joined the defence forces. While the proclamation, or after it | :42:56. | :44:14. | |
is read, the military band will play again. | :44:15. | :44:25. | |
Irishmen and Irishwomen: In the name of God and of the dead generations | :44:26. | :44:30. | |
from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
Having organised and trained her manhood through her secret | :44:41. | :44:47. | |
revolutionary organisation, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
and through her open military organisations, the Irish Volunteers | :44:53. | :44:56. | |
and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal | :45:02. | :45:06. | |
itself, she now seizes that moment, and supported by her exiled children | :45:07. | :45:12. | |
in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first | :45:13. | :45:17. | |
on her own strength, she strikes in full | :45:18. | :45:21. | |
We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership | :45:22. | :45:28. | |
of Ireland and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, | :45:29. | :45:32. | |
The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government | :45:33. | :45:40. | |
has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished | :45:41. | :45:44. | |
except by the destruction of the Irish people. | :45:45. | :45:48. | |
In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right | :45:49. | :45:53. | |
to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three | :45:54. | :45:57. | |
hundred years they have asserted it in arms. | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic | :46:08. | :46:12. | |
as a Sovereign Independent State, and we pledge our lives | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
and the lives of our comrades in arms to the cause of its freedom, | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations. | :46:22. | :46:27. | |
The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights | :46:33. | :46:41. | |
and equal opportunities to all its citizens, | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity | :46:46. | :46:49. | |
of the whole nation and of all its parts, | :46:50. | :46:52. | |
cherishing all of the children of the nation equally, | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien | :46:58. | :47:01. | |
Government, which have divided a minority from the | :47:02. | :47:04. | |
Until our arms have brought the opportune moment | :47:05. | :47:11. | |
for the establishment of a permanent National Government, | :47:12. | :47:14. | |
representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected | :47:15. | :47:18. | |
by the suffrages of all her men and women, the Provisional | :47:19. | :47:22. | |
Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people. | :47:28. | :47:33. | |
We place the cause of the Irish Republic under | :47:34. | :47:37. | |
the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke | :47:38. | :47:41. | |
upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause | :47:42. | :47:47. | |
will dishonour it by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. | :47:48. | :47:52. | |
In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, | :47:53. | :47:56. | |
by its valour and discipline, and by the readiness of its children | :47:57. | :48:01. | |
to sacrifice themselves for the common good, | :48:02. | :48:05. | |
prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called. | :48:06. | :48:11. | |
Signed on behalf of the Provisional Government: | :48:12. | :48:16. | |
Thomas J Clarke, Sean MacDiarmada, Thomas MacDonagh, PH Pearse, | :48:17. | :48:25. | |
Eamonn Ceannt, Even James Connolly, Joseph Plunkett. | :48:26. | :48:49. | |
After the reading of the proclamation, the band will play. I | :48:50. | :49:02. | |
am Ireland, the title taken from a poem by Patrick Pearse. | :49:03. | :49:48. | |
This haunting music. In February this year, the British ambassador | :49:49. | :49:59. | |
spoke at a debate in UCD and he said, it seems right that this | :50:00. | :50:03. | |
country is celebrating its independence that was one after a | :50:04. | :50:08. | |
long struggle over an overbearing neighbour, should remedy key events | :50:09. | :50:13. | |
in the path to independence. There is no need, he said, to debate the | :50:14. | :50:19. | |
rights and wrongs of the Rising, to conclude that it is worthy of | :50:20. | :50:24. | |
commemoration. He described the Queens visit to the Garden of | :50:25. | :50:28. | |
remembrance in 2011 as the moment history fast forwarded from | :50:29. | :50:36. | |
weariness to friendship. The transformation, he said, burst into | :50:37. | :50:39. | |
life in that simple, very moving, highly significant commemoration of | :50:40. | :50:44. | |
those who lost their lives in the cause of Irish freedom. | :50:45. | :51:51. | |
Shortly, the Taoiseach will invite President Higgins to lead into the | :51:52. | :51:54. | |
next part of the ceremony. The parade commander is Colonel | :51:55. | :52:41. | |
Steven Howard. The research areas are drawn from the second military | :52:42. | :52:42. | |
police Company. Ladies and gentlemen, please be | :52:43. | :53:07. | |
upstanding for the wreath laying ceremony and women standing for the | :53:08. | :53:14. | |
remaining of the survey. -- ceremony. | :53:15. | :53:39. | |
In this centenary year, we honour the memory of those who died in 1916 | :53:40. | :54:09. | |
with the respect and dignity that is their G. And we cherish 100 years | :54:10. | :54:19. | |
later the principles and the ideals contained in our proclamation for | :54:20. | :54:22. | |
which they have fought. I now invite the President to lay a | :54:23. | :54:47. | |
wreath on behalf of the people of Ireland in honour of all those who | :54:48. | :54:59. | |
died. Speaking ahead of this ceremony, President Higgins said | :55:00. | :55:01. | |
there is no single narrative of 1916, no monopoly over the | :55:02. | :55:08. | |
interpretation of our history, even at the removal of a century, he | :55:09. | :55:15. | |
said, the memory of 1916, while of importance and worthy of respect as | :55:16. | :55:18. | |
the foundation of an event, still carries pain for many. | :55:19. | :55:24. | |
Ladies and gentlemen, we will now serve a minute of silence. At the | :55:25. | :55:28. | |
end of the minute, it will be marked by a muffled drum beat. | :55:29. | :56:37. | |
On the defence forces website, we read they hold the seven people who | :56:38. | :56:43. | |
signed the population in high regard. The seven barracks that make | :56:44. | :56:50. | |
up the defence Force Vasek Pospisil turning centre are named after each | :56:51. | :56:52. | |
of the signatories of the population. Now, the sounding of the | :56:53. | :56:57. | |
last post. The poignant musical tribute that | :56:58. | :58:29. | |
has sounded from battlefield two battlefield and from one remembrance | :58:30. | :58:34. | |
to another. Ladies and gentlemen, the national flag above the General | :58:35. | :58:40. | |
Post Office will now be hoisted to full mast. There will then be a | :58:41. | :58:53. | |
fly-past from the air Corps. To commemorate the centenary, the | :58:54. | :58:55. | |
defence forces have been given the do the job of delivering a copy of | :58:56. | :59:01. | |
the proclamation and a tricolour to every one of more than 3000 primary | :59:02. | :59:06. | |
schools. Thousands of secondary school pupils were presented with | :59:07. | :59:10. | |
tricolours at a ceremony here in Dublin earlier this month. The flag | :59:11. | :59:17. | |
modelled on the red white and blue revolutionary France, the... The | :59:18. | :59:26. | |
White in the centre signified a lasting truce between Orange and | :59:27. | :59:31. | |
Green. Trust, he said, beneath its folds the hands of Irish Protestants | :59:32. | :59:35. | |
and Irish Catholics may be clasped in generous heroic brotherhood. | :59:36. | :01:04. | |
Six aircraft flown by instructors of the air Corps flying training school | :01:05. | :01:12. | |
in wedge formation, 700 feet above O'Connell Street. As this ceremony | :01:13. | :01:24. | |
concludes... Ladies and gentlemen, the annual commemorative ceremony | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
will continue shortly with the march past the General Post Office by the | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
20 16th Easter Parade. This portion of the ceremony is now concluded and | :01:34. | :01:47. | |
you are invited sit. And now, the main parade moves on O'Connell | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
Street from south of the river at O'Connell Bridge, passing at the | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
Garden of remembrance. The garden built on the site where Irish | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
Volunteers were founded the organisation was founded, in 1913. | :02:00. | :02:03. | |
It was there that several leaders of the rebellion were held prisoner | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
overnight before being taken to Kilmainham Gaol and execution. In a | :02:08. | :02:13. | |
speech last June, President Higgins said engaging with the past is not | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
easy. It involves a complex negotiation of the stories, | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
memories, Hertz, legacies and emotions of all who recall 1916 or | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
who are or were affected by the troubles. He went on, finding a fair | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
and comprehensive way of dealing with the past will be a huge | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
challenge, but a challenge that cannot be shirked. Those words will | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
resonate with those who have witnessed this ceremony of | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
celebration and reflection. Yes, as the parade burette -- prepares to | :02:49. | :02:54. | |
pass along O'Connell Street we have Martina Devlin and our Dublin | :02:55. | :03:00. | |
correspondence, Shane Harrison. Thankfully, the weather has held for | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
the ceremony. Planned with precision, as all of these military | :03:06. | :03:08. | |
events are. How did you think it went? The choreography work. For | :03:09. | :03:16. | |
months we have banks did about whether it should be a commemoration | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
or a celebration will stop people were conscious of sensitivities and | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
the fact there was a lot of blood spilled during Easter week, but I | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
feel a sense of celebration. I noticed it this morning when I was | :03:31. | :03:33. | |
travelling in on public transport into the city centre. There was a | :03:34. | :03:42. | |
happy note in the error. Is that the same with you Shane? There has been | :03:43. | :03:49. | |
a big build-up in the media, of course, and among government | :03:50. | :03:52. | |
officials. What about the general public? How are they taking this | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
day? They will have witnessed a ceremony that was stirring, simple, | :03:59. | :04:05. | |
solemn and almost sombre, because the shadow of the troubles and all | :04:06. | :04:08. | |
the people who died here were commemorated in many ways in what | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
the ceremony saw. As you join us, we can see an aerial shot of Dublin and | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
you can see how many people are here and it is quite clear that this has | :04:18. | :04:23. | |
really captured the imagination of the Irish public. I met a few | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
parents and children on the way in and they were really quite excited | :04:29. | :04:31. | |
about what was going to happen today. It is all very different from | :04:32. | :04:38. | |
what happened in 1966 when Eamon de Valera was the Taoiseach. He took | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
part in the 1916 Rising. He was to note that if you use later there | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
would be the troubles erupted in Northern Ireland and the shadow of | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
violence cast over so many 1916 parades down the years. How | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
important has it been, is education, you could call it, of the Easter | :04:57. | :05:03. | |
1916 Rising to the new generations? There has been a big programme in | :05:04. | :05:10. | |
schools. I suppose a generation has grown up for whom 1916 meant little. | :05:11. | :05:17. | |
In one sense, that is healthy. We cannot be prisoners of the past, but | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
in another sense it is important to remember these people and to learn | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
lessons from their behaviour. I think that that has come through in | :05:27. | :05:34. | |
recent months and weeks. They were an exceptional generation, the 1916 | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
generation to stop they understood the importance of collaboration and | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
the common good. They were self-sacrificing in a way which we | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
are less so today. One of the aspects which there has been new | :05:51. | :06:02. | |
attention is the way they were hoping all the people together would | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
accept their Irishness, to celebrate their Irishness and this was not so | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
usual. As the parade makes its way along the streets, let's go to Mark | :06:15. | :06:22. | |
Simpson. I heard Shane Harrison talking about the comparisons with | :06:23. | :06:25. | |
the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. How does today | :06:26. | :06:32. | |
compare with what happened back in 1966? Here is someone who was there. | :06:33. | :06:39. | |
You were there, you were 16 at the time, you are originally from | :06:40. | :06:41. | |
Limerick and live in the United States. How did today compare? Back | :06:42. | :06:48. | |
in 1966, the pride of women in the Rising was underplayed and there was | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
very little about their enormous involvement and the part, they | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
played was very underrated as well. In fact, you would see pictures of | :06:59. | :07:01. | |
peers everywhere but very little of James Connolly. Especially trade | :07:02. | :07:08. | |
unionists celebrated James Connolly by putting pictures of an album that | :07:09. | :07:15. | |
was out by his son in Windows and pubs. That wouldn't have been the | :07:16. | :07:23. | |
same crowds by any means. I was 16, so anything over ten people seemed a | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
crowd but the street was pretty packed. It was quite the event. Was | :07:27. | :07:33. | |
it all about the rebels and not anybody else? Very much so. It was | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
about the men who fought in the post office. There wasn't even a mention | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
of Constance Markievizc, let alone anyone else. Some Republicans think, | :07:43. | :07:48. | |
that is the way it should be in terms of concentrating on the rebels | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
and not everybody else. What do you think about the inclusive nature of | :07:53. | :07:59. | |
today? Unless you include human hand and incredible struggle -- Cumann na | :08:00. | :08:10. | |
mBan, the recent troubles were a war about women and they took the brunt | :08:11. | :08:17. | |
of it. I think today is brilliant. People are supporting their history | :08:18. | :08:27. | |
and the sun shone. Thank you both very much indeed. That is the latest | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
from O'Connell Street. I have to say, it was quite a moment and with | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
the crowd when the proclamation was read. People reliving history. You | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
know what things are like, people are on their phones, taking photos, | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
you could have heard a pin drop. It was quite a moment. You can hear the | :08:46. | :08:54. | |
band behind me quite loud, hopefully not too loudly. Talking about the | :08:55. | :09:01. | |
proclamation and what was written in it, Martina, you were interested in | :09:02. | :09:04. | |
the proclamation today, grabbing hold of the copy that was given to | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
you. What stands out in the proclamation today? This was handed | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
to me as I walked to O'Connell Street. I paused to read it because | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
it is a fascinating document, three paragraphs. There is a line that | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
talks about cherishing the children of the nation equally. Sometimes, | :09:25. | :09:33. | |
that is interpreted as a class reference, in fact, it is national | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
list and unionist background. It is the idea that it doesn't matter | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
where your state was originally, what country you originated in, it | :09:44. | :09:46. | |
is about giving allegiance to the country you were born in and grew up | :09:47. | :09:53. | |
in now. The idea that it is a united Irishmen's idea that, irrespective | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
of gender, creed, class, that you can work together for the common | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
good. I think that was a visionary ID that the men and women of 1916 | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
absorbed and advanced and perhaps it was lost subsequently fallen | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
partition. The two states which developed really didn't take this | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
ideal of on-board. It is a wonderful idea. There is something else about | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
this document. It is the first line. Irish men and Irish women stop | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
extraordinary 100 years ago that women were also being invoked and | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
when you mentioned the schoolchildren, what they are | :10:38. | :10:40. | |
learning about 1916, we are being reminded that women went out in 1916 | :10:41. | :10:48. | |
because not just national identity, but for suffrage. For equality, for | :10:49. | :10:55. | |
women. Unfortunately, what happened is women were airbrushed out of | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
history and were pushed to the sidelines and now the current | :11:01. | :11:03. | |
generation is learning about these women. They are also learning about | :11:04. | :11:10. | |
unionists who were part of 1916. People like Roger Casement, a very | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
strong connection with Antrim, from a unionist background to stop a | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
northern Protestant father, a southern Catholic mother. He | :11:21. | :11:24. | |
connected with his national identity through the cultural movement, the | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
idea that it was extraordinary, revolutionary to think you could be | :11:30. | :11:33. | |
Irish as opposed to British and he really got that idea and ran with | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
it. He has been studied and given his place in the Grampian. As the | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
parade continues, we see both Irish men and Irish women making their | :11:44. | :11:49. | |
way. Also, many veterans who have been part of the Armed Forces. When | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
we talk about that proclamation and the young people getting involved. | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
What do you think the definition of the Easter Rising is now for young | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
people? Is it just a date in the diary or do you think there has been | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
some sort of the rebirth of identity or nationalism because of this big | :12:09. | :12:15. | |
centenary? I think there probably has been. I was struck a couple of | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
weeks ago. I met the parents of children outside where I live and | :12:21. | :12:23. | |
they were dressed up in their little costumes from the period going in | :12:24. | :12:27. | |
and their parents were saying, they are gone in to fight the English, I | :12:28. | :12:32. | |
will have to have a few words with them afterwards to put them right. | :12:33. | :12:43. | |
I do detect there is a real sense of national pride in what has happened. | :12:44. | :12:53. | |
I do sense also that historians are saying, 1916 probably was necessary | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
if there was to be Irish independence. Home rule probably | :12:58. | :13:03. | |
wouldn't have given Irish independence in that time frame. | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
There is the alternative view by the former Taoiseach John Britton who | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
said they would have been a referendum in the 1920s and Ireland | :13:14. | :13:16. | |
would have got it freedom then but that is a point that nobody will | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
ever know the truth of. Let's go back now to mark on the streets on | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
O'Connell Street. We're going to get an Englishman 's | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
view, a young person's view that you got to hear from an Irish mummy as | :13:30. | :13:37. | |
well! Helen, now living in London. You've got your family back to see | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
this? Yes, I thought it was very important, for our son to engage in | :13:42. | :13:48. | |
his Irish heritage. This is such a momentous moment in history and I | :13:49. | :13:51. | |
thought it was important for him. I'm not sure how much Irish history | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
he is learning about in the UK. He is learning about the famine so it's | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
important to come here. It was a remarkable ceremony, much more | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
holistic than the 1966 commemoration. It's remembering some | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
of the British Army who died and the civilians who died as well as the | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
insurgents. What did you make of the ceremony as a whole, was an implicit | :14:18. | :14:20. | |
in other? Think it was very inclusive and it was very solemn. We | :14:21. | :14:26. | |
were helped by the weather and the music was wonderful. I think it has | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
been done in the right spirit. What was the moment for you, was at the | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
reading of the proclamation? The reading of the proclamation was very | :14:37. | :14:39. | |
moving. I saw people in tears. I didn't cry but it was very moving | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
but it was very modern in that it mentioned women. 100 years ago! Is | :14:46. | :14:53. | |
great that Ireland has moved forward. Let's get a quick words | :14:54. | :15:00. | |
from Bruno, did you learn anything? I learned a bit but mostly it was in | :15:01. | :15:07. | |
Irish and I am not fluent in this difficult but I learned a bit about | :15:08. | :15:11. | |
Ireland. A quick words with your dad. Guinness and Asians view of | :15:12. | :15:19. | |
today? I have no specific point of view. I love a good pageant! It is | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
obviously a very important occasion. There is an element of healing but | :15:25. | :15:33. | |
very important and it is great to see and the good weather, it could | :15:34. | :15:40. | |
be a pivotal moment. Who knows? In so far as the relationship between | :15:41. | :15:47. | |
the UK or England specifically and Ireland has been served, this might | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
be the moment in which some of the toxicity comes out of that | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
relationship. Would you agree? I think it's a very good point. Thank | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
you all for talking to me. The main point today coming from this is | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
whether you agree with the Rising or not, no one can deny that it was a | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
landmark moment in Irish history and just perhaps today will go down as a | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
landmark moment as well. We all love a good pageant and this | :16:16. | :16:22. | |
is the largest parade in the history of the country. | :16:23. | :16:29. | |
As we look down on Dublin, we have glimpsed the monomers in O'Connell | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
Street. History frozen in stone. It is" by monuments to two giants of | :16:34. | :16:41. | |
constitutional nationalism. If you know that geography, Daniel | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
O'Connell at the southern end, Charles Parnell at the Northern, | :16:45. | :16:47. | |
engraved on the Parnell wonderment are his words, no man has the right | :16:48. | :16:53. | |
to fix the boundary and these monuments, I suppose, or reminders | :16:54. | :17:00. | |
that the militant must not the majority strand of nationalism in | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
1916. Most people favoured home rule in limited form and then you have | :17:06. | :17:11. | |
the monument to James Barkan, arms outstretched in that magic gesture. | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
The man George Bernard Shaw described as the greatest Irishman | :17:17. | :17:18. | |
since Parnell, founder of the General workers union, he did so | :17:19. | :17:24. | |
much of his work in Belfast before moving to Dublin. He wanted the | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
Irish Citizen Army to form a force along the lines of Carson's UVF but | :17:30. | :17:36. | |
it was James Connolly who formed it into a weapons for his own use and | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
demanded a commitment to revolution with the goal of an Irish | :17:41. | :17:44. | |
Independent republic. He used Liberty Hall as his space. James | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
Connolly declares and we can reflect on today's ceremony as we look down | :17:50. | :17:52. | |
over Dublin and look at the streets, the Republic I would wish, he said, | :17:53. | :17:59. | |
is the ideal should be of such a character that the mere mention of | :18:00. | :18:03. | |
its name would at all times serve as a beacon light to the oppressed of | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
every land. That republic was declared and suppressed. It was a | :18:08. | :18:11. | |
field rebellion but it was a pivotal moment in Irish history. Leading | :18:12. | :18:20. | |
ultimately to independence. There were many other ceremonies | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
this morning. One Took Place at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. One | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
wreath was laid at the grave of Edward Hollywood and he was the | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
Weaver of the first Irish tricolour in 1848, the green, white and orange | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
based on a French flag. A wreath was also laid at the grave of the man | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
who wrote the lyrics of the national anthem, the soldiers song. Glasnevin | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
Cemetery is very well known for graves of Irish rebels and also on a | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
daily occurrence, and actor plays the role of Padraig Pearse and reads | :19:00. | :19:06. | |
out the oration that he made at the funeral which seems to ignite the | :19:07. | :19:12. | |
rebels into their fight towards Easter 1916. On that note of | :19:13. | :19:16. | |
Glasnevin Cemetery, a memorial wall will be unveiled next month and it | :19:17. | :19:22. | |
will have the names of all those who died in the Easter Rising. Something | :19:23. | :19:28. | |
that not everyone agrees with? That's right, some of those, | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
particularly relatives of the 1916 think that some of the names of | :19:34. | :19:35. | |
British soldiers and policemen should not be on the wall. There are | :19:36. | :19:41. | |
others who say, no, it all has to be very inclusive to reflect that Anglo | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
Irish relations have moved on in the last period. That note of | :19:47. | :19:55. | |
inclusivity, one thing I did notice today, so many visitors and people | :19:56. | :19:59. | |
from all around the world, I suppose it is connecting with the day after | :20:00. | :20:05. | |
a? Yes, I spoke to ending this man whose grandfather was in with | :20:06. | :20:12. | |
President Eamon de Valera and he said, did you know there were no | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
women allowed in the garrison? He didn't so we had a discussion about | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
that. I said that contemporary reports at the time showed that some | :20:21. | :20:23. | |
of the men were not too pleased about Eamon de Valera banning the | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
women because they had to do all the cooking! You can have a laugh about | :20:28. | :20:30. | |
it as well and it's important that you don't get too hung up on the | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
grid things. One of the questions is, does it have any contemporary | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
resonance? Is it all just a costume drama, or even triumphalism, God | :20:41. | :20:48. | |
forbid? I think that there are lessons that can be learned from it | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
and for me, I see, ironically, more than ever now, a fortress Ulster | :20:54. | :21:00. | |
mentality and a fortress island mentality. They could be so much | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
more cooperation between the two parts of this island in terms of | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
tourism, trade, culture, health care, so many areas of common | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
interest. I think it would be wonderful if 2016 and the centenary | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
could be used as a springboard to advance that cooperation. | :21:21. | :21:27. | |
Unfortunately there are no senior Unionists present here but it is | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
behind the eye the British ambassador to Ireland and when I was | :21:32. | :21:38. | |
on the streets, I see that Mike heard people referencing Queen | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
Elizabeth's visit recently and mentioning how she bowed her head | :21:43. | :21:45. | |
before the Republican dead and that resonated with people and it is a | :21:46. | :21:52. | |
reminder that it has never been, I believe, and anti-conditioners but | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
an anti-imperialism. Imperialism is not good for a colonised people, is | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
only good but the colonised. If you think 2016, how those Anglo Irish | :22:04. | :22:11. | |
relations have changed in the past 100 years? 1916 has often been | :22:12. | :22:14. | |
described as a rising of poets and perhaps the most famous pawn about | :22:15. | :22:21. | |
it was written by W B Yeats in which he said a terrible beauty has been | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
born. If you look at relations now, you would have to say they are very | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
far from terrible but beautiful, that might be stretching it a bit! | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
As Martina has just said, there is no representative of the Unionist | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
community here, even though the Queen, five years ago, went to the | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
Garden of remembrance and bowed in honour of those Irish men and women | :22:44. | :22:46. | |
who gave their lives for Irish freedom. Before we are drowned out | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
by the band, we return to Mark Simpson to see who he has been | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
talking to on the street! This is a real cross-section of | :22:56. | :22:58. | |
people here. The show man is from Armagh, one from Fermanagh and you | :22:59. | :23:05. | |
are from New York. They have you brought with you? My daughter. What | :23:06. | :23:11. | |
have you made of today? We are just so happy and excited to be here. I | :23:12. | :23:21. | |
have been in New York for 40 years, originally from Dublin so I brought | :23:22. | :23:24. | |
her over to see the parade to celebrate the anniversary. The last | :23:25. | :23:32. | |
time I was here was in 1966 at the 50th anniversary so it is a special | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
day. What was the one moment today that you will always remember? When | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
they raised the flags and sign the national anthem, it was brilliant | :23:42. | :23:49. | |
and I really enjoyed it. We're going to hear from somebody north of the | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
border. Did you come here for the weekend or did you have an early | :23:55. | :23:57. | |
start this morning? We came here this morning. Left the house at | :23:58. | :24:04. | |
about 8am. Was it worth it? Oh yes, a brilliant ceremony. Good to be | :24:05. | :24:10. | |
here and to be part of it. Who is this with you? This is my son 's | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
friend. What was the moment of the day for you? When the tanks went by, | :24:16. | :24:23. | |
definitely! The final would to this young man from Armagh. Why do Joe | :24:24. | :24:34. | |
come today? Just for the day. How will you but today? What is the | :24:35. | :24:43. | |
moment you always remember, was a proclamation, the raising of the | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
flags? The National Anthem. What has the mood been like in the crowd | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
here? Berry good. You must have been here early? Yes. The main parade | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
passing but these people are not moving! | :24:58. | :25:08. | |
One thing we all seem to be living today by the pipes and drums, so | :25:09. | :25:14. | |
many bands walking along and as the parade is passing the GPO, held does | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
it look to you, Seamus? There are those who say that by making the | :25:20. | :25:22. | |
Rising defining moment of stated, there is a danger especially if it | :25:23. | :25:29. | |
is commemorated in too militaristic away, that revolutionary values are | :25:30. | :25:33. | |
somehow elevated above the democratic virtues that have made | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
Ireland the political entity but it is. As we look at that automatic | :25:39. | :25:44. | |
monument, but familiar at Oracle pose of his, but it's always worth | :25:45. | :25:49. | |
remembering that today's Irish Defence Forces are known for their | :25:50. | :25:52. | |
contribution to peace keeping around the world and dozens of soldiers | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
have given their lives in missions on several continents. Mounted by | :25:58. | :26:05. | |
the UN and European union. There are so many fascinating dimensions to | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
the memories and historical recollections stirred by these | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
events. In 1916, Unionists applauded the imposition by the British | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
government of martial law during the Easter week and they urged that what | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
they saw as nationalists should not be rewarded. Lord Carson called it a | :26:27. | :26:33. | |
shame brought upon Ireland but when the courts martial of the rebel | :26:34. | :26:40. | |
leaders began, their leader, Edward Carson, urged caution. It will be a | :26:41. | :26:43. | |
matter requiring the greatest wisdom, he said, whatever is done, | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
let it be done not in a moment of temporary excitement but with | :26:50. | :26:52. | |
deliberation and regard to the past and the future. Something more to | :26:53. | :27:03. | |
contemplate. We have talked a lot about the past | :27:04. | :27:06. | |
today. Tomorrow is another day, it is the future and lots planned in | :27:07. | :27:13. | |
the city but definitely these were the younger generation is looking to | :27:14. | :27:19. | |
the future? Today is about official Ireland remembering 1916 and | :27:20. | :27:21. | |
tomorrow it will be the people. This area will be full of actuaries, | :27:22. | :27:29. | |
walking tours mother will be a general hilly and a car exhibition | :27:30. | :27:32. | |
in Merrion Square. Lots happening and that will bring hundreds of | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
thousands people into the city centre tomorrow. | :27:37. | :27:49. | |
A cultural revolution underpinned the military revolution, if you | :27:50. | :27:57. | |
like. I saw a little boy coming in here aged seven with his | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
grandfather's medals pinned to his jacket and I asked what they were | :28:03. | :28:05. | |
for and he didn't know that he thought they were lovely objects and | :28:06. | :28:12. | |
his dad said we will explain to him when he is older. I think the idea | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
is to put it in a much more nuanced context than good guys and bad guys | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
and who is on whose side. I think that is important. It is important | :28:24. | :28:31. | |
as well... Sorry to interrupt you, we see the helicopters flying over | :28:32. | :28:35. | |
O'Connell Street. We had a fly-past aerial display earlier ending the | :28:36. | :28:41. | |
ceremony and now the helicopters making quite a lot of noise and | :28:42. | :28:48. | |
quite a spectacle. You were saying. There are all sorts of | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
interpretations of Irishness, from this and whatever you are having | :28:53. | :28:58. | |
yourself, one of the National casting identity ideas is the plucky | :28:59. | :29:02. | |
underdog taking on... We will leave it there for now. I cannot help | :29:03. | :29:10. | |
thinking of the words of Saint Ingleton, the journalist and | :29:11. | :29:14. | |
commentator, the past, he says, is wildly unpredictable. The memory of | :29:15. | :29:21. | |
the Easter Rising has been altered by the question, isn't over yet? The | :29:22. | :29:25. | |
struggle has always been to decide whether it is history and current | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
affairs, done and dusted unfinished business. Perhaps today this is a | :29:31. | :29:36. | |
symbol of an Ireland moving on. As many have said, mature enough to | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
reconfigure its relationships with unionism and with Britain in the | :29:42. | :29:48. | |
last 20 of the 100 years since that pivotal moment in 1916. It really | :29:49. | :29:58. | |
has been a day of great spectacle, pomp and ceremony. Everything | :29:59. | :30:01. | |
planned with military precision. Really enjoyed by all of the crowds, | :30:02. | :30:07. | |
the throngs of people who have lined the streets starting over at Stephen | :30:08. | :30:12. | |
's Green where the parade began, winding its way through the streets | :30:13. | :30:16. | |
of Dublin to the GPO here and the military parade will continue and | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
will end on a 21 gun salute. We have watched here are the main ceremony | :30:22. | :30:27. | |
at the GPO and as the remainder of that parade continues, we are trying | :30:28. | :30:30. | |
our special BBC programme to a close. Our colleagues on BBC radio | :30:31. | :30:37. | |
Ulster and our News website are continuing live coverage of this | :30:38. | :30:44. | |
commemoration. Have a look at the website. If you are looking for | :30:45. | :30:50. | |
background and special reports on the Easter Rising you can find all | :30:51. | :30:54. | |
of that on a dedicated website from the BBC. Many thousands of people | :30:55. | :31:01. | |
are still on the streets of Dublin locations very different from 100 | :31:02. | :31:06. | |
years ago. Today we have a quiet reflection and music, replacing the | :31:07. | :31:10. | |
sounds of another century in those very same places, sons of gun and | :31:11. | :31:15. | |
shellfire. It is a changed time with the changed context. | :31:16. | :31:26. |