Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I understand that the Minister has a lot on her desk but the commemorations are really important at both a national and local level. They are not just about commemorating the actual first meeting of the Dáil. The local commemorations are really important. The Minister must offer support to having a national structure. What we had for the 1916 commemoration was very inclusive. It reflected communities and people were drawn from a wide range of organisations and none. The involvement by the Government was agreed by everybody in the House to be extremely successful. I share the concern that for some reason or other nothing much seems to be happening for the next series of commemorations. If the Minister allows a vacuum to develop then others may fill the vacuum in a way which will be far less inclusive than what we successfully achieved in 2016.

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