The diaspora will have its day in the 1798 bicentennial commemorations on Sunday, when 350 international nominees stage a "grand reconvention" of the abortive Wexford Senate set up during the rebellion.
The former New Zealand prime minister, Mr Jim Bolger, whose ancestors came from north Wexford, will deliver the keynote address, and the cathaoirleach will be Sean Duignan, of RTE.
However, the most prominent of the new "senators", Mr Gerry Adams will be absent when the forum sits in a large marquee beside a lake in the grounds of Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford. Mr Adams ????ein cumann in Wexford, had been expected to attend, the session. However, he is due to visit the US at the weekend.
The assembly is intended to provide a focal point for the Irish throughout the world, especially the descendants of the estimated 30,000 people who died in 1798 and of the many thousands who were subsequently transported overseas.
The democratic ideals and aspirations of the leaders of the rebellion, who set up the original governing directory, or rudimentary system of emergency government, will be recalled.
All the new Wexford Senate members are Irish-born or of Irish descent. They have been nominated by corporate or individual sponsors, who were each required to make a tax-deductible subscription of £2,000. This finance will be used to encourage and develop projects in Co Wexford.
Many of the overseas "senators" are direct descendants of Irish transportees. They also include the mayors of Wexford, Waterford and Cork. Some are from the Northern Ireland business sector, nominated by the Ireland Fund.ail is the only political party, as such, to have sponsored a nominee, a local Wexford councillor. It is understood that women comprise only about five 5 per cent of the nominees.
The original Wexford Senate appointed an executive of four Catholics and four Protestants to oversee the transition to democracy in the new republic. To reflect this the churches, by invitation, have nominated equal proportions of senators.
During the commemorative session, a resolution will be tabled for consideration by the senators, as to whether they wish to constitute the Wexford Senate as a permanent forum for the greater Irish family, "with an open agenda pertaining to Ireland and the Irish in the new millennium".