Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to comment on a couple of things Deputy O'Cuiv said. There is a lot more agreement on this issue than we think, although one can look for disagreement. The heart of the matter is that there should not be a competing set of priorities. We must work together on the issue. I accept that communities should be at the heart of the event. I agree with Deputy Ó Cuív that it works better outside the major urban centres and in smaller communities. Having attended several of the events, I certainly agree that it works far better in such an environment.

For me, it is about commemorating the most important event that formed modern Ireland and the island of Ireland and whether it is worth overriding considerations in fixing a date and not building flexibility around it. I fully accept that we can envisage a scenario where some community will state it cannot do it on a particular date. However, we owe it to the millions who died and the millions of families who lost members through emigration to set a date. I do not buy the argument that in America they move the date of celebration of St. Patrick's Day. That might be the case, but the Americans do not move the date of celebration of the 4th of July or Thanksgiving. What a country decides to lock down in setting a sacred date says a lot about it. That is what drove this. In lots of ways, one would like to think it is not necessary to have this legislation, but, unfortunately, while we had a very good start with the work done by Deputy Ó Cuív and many others on the issue of Famine commemoration, this is just another small step and not over-prescriptive. As I said, on the smaller, more technical points I am willing to work with the committee and other Members of the Houses to ensure we will have a Bill that will garner full support.