Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support what Senator Ó Murchú has said regarding Moore Street. We need to find a resolution. If everybody is around the table and they stay there until they solve it, I have no doubt they will do so. Between now and 2016, it would also be a good idea to develop a trail of all the 1916 sites around Dublin and around the country. County Kerry is involved because of Roger Casement, County Galway because of Liam Mellows, and so are County Wexford, County Laois and many other places. It would be a good idea to develop a trail, for Irish people and people from abroad, so that all of the sites could be brought together. In the case of Dublin, I am envisioning a walking trail, a green line down the streets leading to all the sites.

Is dóigh liom go bhfuil sé fíor-tábhachtach a thuiscint nach mbeadh an méid a tharla i 1916 murach an teanga. Níl aon amhras faoi sin. Cuir i gcás cinnirí 1916. Ní bheidís gafa le polaitíocht murach go raibh baint acu le Conradh na Gaeilge; Eoin Mac Néill go deimhin. Pádraic Mac Piarais agus go leor eile acu chomh maith céanna. Taispeánadh pictúir cúpla bliain ó shin san Galway Advertiser. Baineadh an pictúir le daoine a bhí ag an Oireachtas. Bhí an oiread acu san gafa nó páirteach san Éirí Amach ina dhiaidh sin. Ba thragóid é an iomarca iarracht céiliúradh a dhéanamh - is comóradh atá á dhéanamh ar 1916 - gan rud éigin a dhéanamh don teanga ag an am céanna. Bheinn ag siúl mar chuid de chomóradh 1916 go gcuirfear an t-airgead breise - caipitil agus reatha - a theastaíonn ón Údarás ar fáil.

Is dóigh liom, thar aon rud eile ó thaobh 1916, agus le hómós a thaispeáint do chinnirí 1916, gurb é an rud is mó go bhféadfaí a dhéanamh ná an Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge a chur i bhfeidhm go hiomlán. Cloisim an rud seo: "De réir mar a bheidh acmhainní ar fáil". Beidh acmhainní ar fáil amach anseo ach b'fhéidir nach mbeidh an Ghaeilge mar theanga baile láidir a thuilleadh san Ghaeltacht. Dá gcuirfí €3 milliún nó €4 milliún breise ar fáil as caiteachas an Rialtais, b'é an rud céanna le teaghlach le ioncam de €50,000 ag cur €3 ar fáil do rud éicint. B'shin an ionnanas a bheadh ann - €3 breise a chur ar fáil. Is ionann €3 breise do theaghlach le €50,000 do chaiteachas agus €3 milliún ó thaobh an Stáit. Ní dóigh liomsa go bhfuil leithscéal ar bith ann agus muid ag déanamh comóradh ar 1916 a bheith ag caint ar acmhainní a bheith mar fhadhb. Ba mhaith liom ceist an-díreach a chur ar an Aire Stáit. An lagú nó láidriú a bheidh i gceist leis na leasuithe ar an Acht teanga?

My view is that the Proclamation should be at the centre of the 1916 commemorations. It mentions "Irishmen and Irishwomen" three times. It specifically mentions the "happiness and prosperity of the whole nation" and an Irish Government "elected by the suffrages of all her men and women". It is a very democratic document. The argument they had, of course, was that the Irish men and women were not getting the choice of picking their own form of government. The most misquoted phrase in the Proclamation is about "cherishing all the children of the nation equally", "oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past". This is specifically alluding to reconciliation within this island between the Unionist and Nationalist traditions. There is nothing in that Proclamation that needs to be discarded, which is extraordinary given the events of the past 100 years. It actually says it all, and therefore our challenge is not the Proclamation - in my view, that can stay at the centre - but the implementation of the Proclamation. Any commemoration that does not have it as the central theme is not being true to 1916.

Would it be possible for the Minister of State to suggest to his colleague in the Department of Education that the 1916 Easter Week Commemoration Scholarship be reinstated forthwith? I cannot for the life of me understand cén fath gur cuireadh deireadh le scoláireachtaí 1916 ach sílim go mba cheart go gcuirfí ar ais iad. There should also be a schools programme around the events of 1916.

I welcome the Minister's continuation of the work on the Ulster canals. There was quite a bit of work done on that in my time and I was very anxious to see it progress on a step-by-step basis. I was going to bring it to Clones, I am not sure whether the place the Minister mentioned is further or nearer than that.