Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 26 together.

With regard to commemorative events related to 2014, Deputies will be aware that significant occasions thus far have included the launch by the Taoiseach of the Military Pensions Service Archive online project at the GPO, at which I was very pleased to attend with the Minister for Justice and Equality and for Defence, Deputy Alan Shatter, as well as the launch by the Tánaiste at Google headquarters of the digitisation of Ireland's First World War memorial record. In addition, a provision of €6 million has been made in my Department's Vote for commemorative projects, including the GPO interpretative centre, and progress on these projects continues apace. Plans are also in place to mark the centenary of Cumann na mBan, the 1914 activities of the Ulster and Irish Volunteers, the Curragh Camp mutiny, as well as the enactment of the Third Home Rule Bill and the outbreak and escalation of the First World War.

Unrelated, of course, to the decade of centenaries, a significant programme is in place to commemorate the millennium of the Battle of Clontarf.

Deputies will be aware of the several initiatives over recent years to establish a framework for the commemoration of the First World War. It is appropriate that the service and loss of many thousands of Irish men and women in a terrible and tragic conflict would be acknowledged and understood. Following the historic timeline, the programme to commemorate the First World War will continue to evolve up until 2018, marking the salient anniversaries of particular significance. The Irish experience in the First World War is, of course, only one theme of a comprehensive commemorative programme that will seek to examine all aspects of Irish life and society in the revolutionary age.

Information on the developing commemorative programme will be available on my Department's website and individual announcements will issue for specific events. I recommend that people keep in touch with the Century Ireland online newspaper. I remain, as always, grateful to hear from Deputies with any views on commemorative arrangements.

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