Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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8. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he is responsible for the invitations with respect to foreign dignitaries for 1916 commemoration events; when a final list will be drawn up; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44973/14]

Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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My question relates to how and when the invitations to foreign dignitaries and overseas guests will be drawn up for the 1916 commemoration events. What input will the Minister and his Department have into that progress? Unfortunately, the commemoration has been mired in quite a degree of controversy, especially during recent months. The views of many of the relatives of the 1916 leaders have been well-aired. Given the sensitivities and the huge symbolic importance of the commemoration for Irish citizens and for the State, it is important that we get this right. I would be interested to hear the Minister's views on that.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The centenary of the Easter Rising in 2016 will be the centrepiece of the Government’s decade of commemorations programme. The Taoiseach launched the outline plans for the commemoration of the Easter Rising 1916 on Wednesday, 12 November last. These outline plans are now subject to a period of consultation to enable members of the public to comment and to submit ideas in regard to this important commemoration. Details of the proposed plans, and a facility for submitting comments and ideas, can be found on the dedicated website www.ireland.ie. My colleague, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Heather Humphreys, whose Department has lead responsibility for the commemoration, has also tasked a team from her Department with visiting every county in the country to listen to people’s views on how best we might commemorate 1916. Once this consultation process has concluded and final decisions are made on the overall programme of events, the Government will then be in a position to consider the question of attendance by Ireland’s international partners.

As the Deputy will be aware, Ireland’s diaspora are keen to mark this centenary and my Department, through its network of overseas embassies, is planning a series of initiatives, including talks, community events, exhibitions, seminars and cultural events, to commemorate the events of 1916 and to present Ireland in 2016 to the world. Highlights of this programme will include a major three-week festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in May-June 2016, as well as the premiere of a major documentary on 1916 currently under preparation at Notre Dame University.

Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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I am not sure the Minister has fully answered the question I asked but it is interesting and informative to hear about what is planned, particularly for events, seminars, lectures and so on, across our embassy network. It is hugely important we get full value from our embassy network and that our ambassadors and their support teams have an opportunity to inform and communicate with our partners all over the world about this important centenary. However, my specific question focuses on the invitation list, how it will be drawn up and the input, or otherwise, from the Minister's Department. My confidence in the Department of the Minister, Deputy Heather Humphreys, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, has been shaken. It is important the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade leads on this. That Department's civil servants are the ones who are trained diplomatically and understand the sensitivities. Obviously, there is a huge element of sensitivity and very strong emotions and feelings, particularly when it comes to invitations to be extended across the water to the United Kingdom. Specifically, I would like hear the Minister's view on that. He is the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. We have had very significant improvements in our relations with the British Government over recent years and indeed with the Queen, and I would like to hear the Minister's views specifically on that.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I would like to reignite the Deputy's confidence in the commemoration process by inviting her to participate. We are now in the process of consultation which is important in the context of any plan. If this Government were to present a plan without any form of consultation, not only with Members of this House but with the wider community, I am sure we would be subject to the type of criticism which in the circumstances would be both fair and reasonable. We are now in the course of this consultation phase. I have an open mind as to who might be invited from overseas. This is a vitally important event in our decade of commemorations, undoubtedly the most important aspect of the commemorative decade, and it is important that there be an international dimension of the type I pointed out in respect of our embassy network abroad. I have no doubt there will be opportunity for dignitaries and other Heads of State to pay a visit in the course of that year. I would welcome that and I look forward to it.

Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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Specifically, I repeat my question. Does the Minister envisage in the process of inviting other Heads of State, a proposal of the Minister's that I support and which I think is the right thing to do, that it will extend to our nearest neighbours?

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Let me repeat that all these issues are under active consideration during the course of the consultation period, which is now under way. Members of the Irish diaspora will have an opportunity also to present their ideas and plans to the 1916 project team in the Department of the Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. As Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, I will be keeping in close contact with my Government colleagues on this issue.

I again formally invite Deputy Creighton and her colleagues to submit their plans for consideration. I know that she will have a positive contribution to make to what will be an exciting and dignified event in our country.