Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have more of an observation or an opinion than a question. We promote a great deal in Ireland and in Longford alone recently Fáilte Ireland have invested in the Knights & Conquests Heritage Centre project, which I was involved in at the beginning, together with work on Maria Edgeworth, projects where we are telling stories about different parts of our history but we do not tell the story of our own independence. This is a period for which I have a great grá myself and although we are now within the Decade of Commemorations there is no site that tells that story. We have the GPO and Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin that are specific, but we do not have anywhere that tells the whole story through which we can teach our children. This is something that they are more aware of now and were not for years, as this was virtually never taught as history in our schools up until recently. It is of great importance. As I have said I am from Longford which has very strong links to that whole period of our history, together with Cork and Tipperary. What are our witnesses' views on this? This is a project that could be developed somewhere. Naturally enough, I would be prioritising my own area because of the very strong links that it has. We need a place to which people who come to Ireland can go and in which they can get the whole story told them. We are telling other stories in other ventures and projects around the country.