Labour’s Tommy Broughan warns of being dragged into UK’s ‘politicised’ war commemorations

Ireland will not be influenced by other first World War commemorations, Minister for Heritage Jimmy Deenihan has insisted, amid claims the first major British ceremony was being politicised.

Labour's Tommy Broughan said the first big British ceremony was based in Glasgow. "Some interpret this as being a political device to use the commemoration of the first World War to destroy the movement towards Scottish independence," he said.

Mr Broughan said it was “important there isn’t an attempt to drag our State and Government into a military-political commemoration which is really at the service of the current Tory and whip leadership of the UK”.

But Mr Deenihan said Ireland was organising its own commemorations and “we are doing it in a very inclusive, respectful and tolerant way. We will not in any way be led by anybody else as regards how we are going to organise our commemorations”.

Shared history
He added that "where there are opportunities to commemorate our shared history; we will do that". But he insisted "we are going to do this in our own very independent way".

Mr Broughan expressed concern the "Irish Government could be dragged into military commemorations which attempt to justify the militarism and gangsterism that produced the first World War".

The Minister said he intended to commemorate these events in a “very respectful, inclusive and tolerant fashion”.

Mr Deenihan was speaking as he outlined plans for a decade of commemorations with funding of €6 million. “We will show proper respect to the people who died in 1916, the War of Independence and the Civil War and also to those Irish people who went to fight for Ireland, as they thought, in the first World War.

“They fought for Ireland in the first World War and they fought for Ireland in the War of Independence.”