Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I want to outline my satisfaction and that of the Defence Forces with this commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising and also with the reintroduction of the traditional Easter military parade. The Cabinet has decided that the theme of the parade will be a celebration of Óglaigh na hÉireann, successors to the volunteers, serving a democratic State and engaged, through the UN, in the search for global peace.

Following discussions at Cabinet last July, I brought the proposal to the attention of the Chief of Staff and he has engaged in some preliminary planning in this regard. Around the same time, there were preliminary discussions at a senior level between officials in my Department and the Department of the Taoiseach.

As the Deputy will recall, the Defence Forces staged a highly successful parade through Dublin city in 2001 to mark the return of the last Irish contingent to serve in Lebanon and the experiences from this parade will serve as a basis for the organisation of the Easter parade. The involvement of organisations representing former members of the Defence Forces is also being considered.

As the Deputy will also appreciate, it is not possible at this early stage to go into any detail on the proposed composition, nature, cost, etc. of the parade since the Defence Forces are still at a very early stage of preparation in this regard. However, based on the experience of organising previous events such as the Lebanon parade I just mentioned, I am informed that an Easter parade is unlikely to entail significant additional expenditure.

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