Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

This is a very important motion. I pay tribute to the families and those who are campaigning because this is not about partisan politics but rather it is about our people, our heroes, our patriots, people we revere and will always do so. The Minister of State, Deputy Costello, is correct that the Minister's contribution last night was very conciliatory and positive. I echo the comments of the Minister of State that the House should not divide but rather that the Minister's amendment should be accepted to allow a cross-party consultative approach to bring about agreement on how to commemorate and celebrate 1916. This is about our people.

Last week in Arbour Hill, the Bishop of Ferns in a very provocative and challenging homily, set out the significance of 1916 for a new generation of Irish people who perhaps did not understand our history. He spoke about how 1916 allowed us to take a new path. He quoted Garret FitzGerald who had said about the 1916 Rising, "It was planned by men who feared that without a dramatic gesture of this kind, the sense of national identity that has survived all the hazards of the centuries would flicker out ignominiously in their lifetime, leaving Ireland psychologically as well as legally an integral part of the United Kingdom." This is the challenge we face, to commemorate and to reach out. I hope the House will not divide on this motion. All of us as parliamentarians should be at that mass in Arbour Hill every year because it commemorates and celebrates in a formal way our patriots and our heroes.

I was in Gettysburg last summer and I toured the battlefields of the American Civil War. It was a mind-blowing day and experience. We must not allow anything to happen to this ground which is one of our sacred places. It is a disgrace. Dublin City Council and An Bord Pleanála have a lot to answer for. We should never forget our past and should not have got into this position. If we are to take a consensus approach to commemorating the 1916 centenary in four years time, we must do so devoid of party politics. We are all republicans and want to see our country united one day. We all believe in the aspirations of equality in the Proclamation, which is why this motion is important. How we plan to commemorate the centenary is also important. We are all required, as citizens, to be participants. As the Minister, Deputy Deenihan, correctly said last night, the Rising was a seminal event and a fundamental turning point in our history.

I hope we are discussing this matter in a non-adversarial manner because we all want to see the same result at the end of the day. Before the end of this debate, we should reflect on how we can achieve what is best for the men and women of 1916.

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