FIFTY years ago I was taken on a family holiday to the west of Ireland. Celebrations were underway for the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising. My memories, as a young lad, are of folk bands and pictures of those who had participated. At that time many who had taken part were still alive to tell the tale and join in the festivities.
It left fond memories for me of the time, together with a lasting affection for Irish folk music and a lifelong interest in the country’s history.
Five decades on, the centenary of the rising beckons. It’s slightly different now as participants have long since passed away. But Ireland will still rightly celebrate. The Irish both at home and abroad and their descendants scattered to the winds around the globe will join in. Many others with no connection to the Emerald Isle but just with an affinity and affection for the land will do likewise; some will wear green in the knowledge simply that it will be “good craic".
This is much more than the celebration of an historic event. It’s as much a celebration of the modern Irish nation and the contribution the country and people have made to the world. It’s for this reason in particular that we should share the festivities. The Easter Rising will be celebrated in Ireland and by the wider Irish community everywhere, irrespective of where their forebears stood in the fighting. Those, whose antecedents fought and died in it, will be joined by those who initially condemned it, as well as by some who, perhaps, still disapprove. This is as much a toast to Ireland as it is as a remembrance of the rising as it was.
For that reason Scotland should join in their celebrations, not simply because some Scots, and in particular James Connolly, took part. Ireland is one of our nearest neighbours. Our histories have been intertwined in so many ways. The Irish community in Scotland is large and vibrant and immigrants from Ireland have contributed a great deal to Scotland throughout centuries.
Even the greatest living Scotsman, Sean Connery, bears an Irish name. The Irish should be allowed to enjoy the moment in their nation's history and we should celebrate with them.
It was an event with global repercussions so it’s right to recall it. Those who disagree cannot simply wish it away. It happened and the rest, as they say, is history. Those who seek to suppress celebrations of the Easter Rising display ignorance and prejudice. Other historic events occurring elsewhere and in different times, whether the signing of the Magna Carta or the bi-centennial of the American Revolution, have been equally marked. Perhaps, even next October, the historical importance of the Russian Revolution will be recognised. Proximity and numbers make Ireland even more important.
The rising itself was a sideshow in many ways to the huge battles being waged in Flanders or on other foreign fields in the First World War. More Irish fought for and died in the British Army than in the organisations that joined in the blood sacrifice in Dublin. It was initially condemned by the majority of Irish opinion until spectacular mishandling by the British authorities changed public perception. Thereafter, it was the symbolism of the sacrifice rather than the success of the event that mattered.
Arguments have raged ever since as to its outcomes. Thoughtful commentators such as Fintan O’Toole have written interesting analyses of it. After all, it neither delivered the socialism fought for by James Connolly nor the Irish-language speaking nation strived for by Padraig Pearse. Whether a Parliament within the Empire would have been delivered at the end of the First World War will never be known. Ireland had railed against British rule down through the centuries and other events were important, including the 1798 rebellion, as were the roles of individuals such as Daniel O’Connell and Charles Stewart Parnell. However, the rising was the catalyst for Sinn Fein’s election in 1918 and the War of Independence that followed.
Suggestions of sectarianism in the rising are wrong. James Connolly, both by his word and deed, condemned it. He was married to a Protestant. Other participants equally rejected it, as was shown in the tricolour symbolically uniting the two strands of orange and green. Assertions of support for paramilitaries as a consequence of this are nonsense. The events will be protected and celebrated with gusto by the Garda Siochana. Many of their members were as cruelly slain in the south of Ireland, as forces of the Crown and civilians were slaughtered in the north. They died trying to preserve order and the integrity of the democratically elected government of the Republic of Ireland.
It’s for that reason that the celebrations will be led by the elected leaders of Ireland. Both the President and the Taoiseach will preside. The latter, if opinion polls on Friday's general election are to be believed, is likely to be the incumbent Enda Kenny. He’s from Fine Gael, which fought republican terrorism since the bitter civil war that created the two sides and established opposing political parties; another example that suggestions of fanning flames for paramilitaries is absurd.
So this is as much about the modern Irish nation that rose from the ashes of Dublin in Easter 1916 as the event itself. The Irish Free State was sparked by the rising and forged on the anvil of the War of Independence and the bitter Civil War that followed. It was a harsh beginning and one that was promptly compounded by a global economic crash and then a world war. These were austere times and the country was haunted by the spectre of emigration; as, sadly, it is today. But it survived and the Free State was succeeded by the Republic. There are aspects that tarnish, whether the theocracy that emerged or Duffy's Blueshirts, but similar issues apply to every land.
However, there’s much more to celebrate. Investment in education has borne great dividends for succeeding generations. The foolishness that killed the Celtic Tiger is being overcome. IT and other industries are flourishing. Equality delivered and the oppressive power of the church was defeated. It won’t be easy but Ireland is on the right road.
So let’s celebrate the birth of modern Ireland and the land that it has become. Let’s pay tribute to its people and the millions more who hail from it. They contribute greatly to our country, as to their own. They have overcome a difficult beginning. They have a nation to call their own and can shape their own destiny. Its birth was perhaps inevitable; its survival was not. That it did is testament both to the courage and convictions of the Irish. However, in toasting them I can’t help lament that, so far, Scotland hasn’t had the courage to match Ireland’s convictions.
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