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

We are following a timeline of events. To date, we have commemorated the introduction of the Home Rule Bill, the establishment of the Volunteers and a number of other events of that period. Our focus at the moment is very much on the commemoration of Cumann na mBan. That will happen in April and we have major events organised for that commemoration. My overall objective is to commemorate these events in a very respectful, inclusive and tolerant fashion, and that has been the tone of the commemorations to date, namely, that people are included in them.

Some 49,000 Irish men died in the First World War - it was mostly men who died, obviously - and given that others also died in the service of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and America, that number is probably even higher. We will have to ensure we can commemorate the shared history we have with Northern Ireland, the UK and Europe. That is the purpose of all this. We are working with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Glasnevin towards having some memorial in Glasnevin to commemorate that.

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