Historians said no to politics in 1916 commemorations
Advisers refused request to reference North’s peace process, Maurice Manning tells forum
Maurice Manning, chairman of the advisory committee on the decade of centenaries: “We were into commemoration. We were into history. We were not into politics. We said no,” he told Parnell Summer School. Photograph: Cathy Loughran
Historians involved in advising on the decade of centenaries “point blank” refused a Government request to use the Northern Ireland peace process as a frame of reference.
The chairman of the Government’s advisory committee, Maurice Manning, said the historians involved wanted nothing do with contemporary political events in Northern Ireland.