The Irish Times view: Where’s the plan for coming centenaries?
Government has not unveiled programme for second half of decade of State commemorations
The aftermath of the War of Independence: the 100th anniversary of its opening shots falls on January 21st. File photograph: Eric Luke/The Irish Times
The first half of the decade of centenaries has been an unqualified success. The public has enjoyed a series of commemorations which have illuminated the past in an inclusive manner and brought home to a new generation the nature of the sacrifices made by their ancestors as this State struggled to be born.
The period was remembered in a fully rounded way, including those who died in the first World War and the achievements of the Irish parliamentary tradition as well as the terrible beauty that was the 1916 Rising. In many ways that was the easy part. The challenge for the second half of the decade will be to find an appropriate way of marking events that included not just the first Dáil and the establishment of an independent state but shocking violence and the deep divisions that led ultimately to civil war.