Humphreys declines to comment on Bruton’s 1916 Rising remarks

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys has declined to comment on former Taoiseach John Bruton’s contention that the Easter Rising and War of Independence were “completely unnecessary”.

Ms Humphreys, who is the minister in charge of the decade of commemorations, said it was not her role to be involved in the relative merits of one historical event over another.

“I’m very conscious that my role is to commemorate the events as they occurred and to reflect the events as they happened. I will not be engaging in the interpretation of history. I will leave that to the historians.”

Mr Bruton has written to the Government urging it to commemorate the centenary of the passage into law on September 18th of the Third Home Rule Bill.

He suggested that the Easter Rising was unnecessary as the British Government had already committed to introducing Home Rule at the end of the First World War which could have been used a stepping stone to full independence.

Ms Humphreys responded by saying that the State had already organised a number of commemorations around the passage of the Home Rule Bill. “There are events planned for this month too,” she said.

She had not really given any consideration to the idea of a public holiday to mark the Easter Rising in 2016 as suggested by the All Party Consultation Group on Commemorations, she said. It recommended Monday, April 25th, a day almost exactly a year after the Rising started.

Ms Humphreys suggested that the commemorations in 2016 could have a Gathering dimension like it did last year. “We could look at a similar model for 2016 because it is a huge event in our history,” she said.

A draft plan to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising will be drawn up shortly and put out to public consultation. The Minister said she wanted to involve the arts, communities and young people in the commemorations.