Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One thing the Minister has been exceptional at is her work on the 1916 commemorations. We are still within that space - the decade of commemorations. When one thinks about what has done for this country, not just in terms of acknowledging the past but also opening so many doors and windows to the past through the Irish language and when one thinks that primary schoolchildren see the tricolour flying high outside their schools and the all the effort and work that went into the commemorations, one can see that there was a lot of thought and partnership went into it. The Deputy rightly pointed out that the Department of the Taoiseach has been involved, as has different personnel in the Department of Defence. There has been such a combined effort to get it right and do it not just in a poignant way but a very sensitive way. I record my thanks for the work the Minister and her team have done in contributing to opening up such a rich window of heritage, language, history and culture which is not just having an impact down South but also in Northern Ireland.

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