Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. Many Members have spoken about the importance of including relatives of those involved in the commemoration. Much history would be lost but for the folklore and the handing down of the tales through the direct descendants of the 1916 Rising. I wish to express my appreciation to those descendants for their attendance at the Joint Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government for a meeting on the Easter Rising and for presenting to us. I heard the Minister say on radio this morning that it is a priority for her to ensure relatives get the recognition they deserve. Without the relatives, we would not have a commemoration.

My grandchildren, Helena and Seán, are a great great grand-niece and great great grand-nephew of Michael Collins, as my son married a first cousin of Nora Owen and Mary Banotti, two fine politicians who served in the Houses previously. The father of Michael Collins died when Michael was only six, but he said that his sister Helena, after whom my granddaughter is called, would be a nun and she was. He said of Michael, who was six at the time, that one day he would be a great man and would do great work for Ireland. He did.

We plan to commemorate all the great leaders of the 1916 Rising, but I want to speak in particular about Pádraig Pearse agus an tsuim a bhí aige sa teanga Gaeilge agus faoin scoil a bhunaigh sé i Rath Fearnáin, i dteach a seasann anois mar an Pearse Museum. Bunaíodh an scoil sin sa bhliain 1910 agus ba scoil bilingual é ar dtús. Dúirt Seanadóir éigin níos luaithe nár ceart do comóradh 1916 a bheith over militaristic agus gur ceart oideachas a chur chun cinn. Education should be put to the fore in the 1916 commemorations. No better place to do that than in the school set up by Pádraig Pearse in Rathfarnham. He moved to Rathfarnham from Ranelagh in 1910 and set up a bilingual school there, which operated as a bilingual school until 1935, when due to financial circumstances it had to close.

I commend the management, staff and the OPW on the work they have done in expanding the Pearse Museum in Rathfarnham. Much work has been done. The museum was handed over to the State and it has put significant work into the house over the years and into developing the museum devoted to Pearse. The museum contains many of the original rooms, including Pearse's study, the family sitting room, the school art gallery and one of the dormitories. It was a bilingual Irish-English school and we are all aware of the emphasis Pádraig Pearse placed on the Irish language. His former cottage in Rosmuc is also receiving significant attention now.

I urge the Minister to consider the great work being done by the staff and management in Rathfarnham. Perhaps the museum could be used for a cruinniú of Gaelscoileanna to put some emphasis on the educational aspect of the commemoration. This should be done to acknowledge the emphasis Pádraig Pearse put on education. As Members have said, there are many different views on 1916. The use of the Pearse Museum would provide an ideal opportunity to ensure the educational aspect of the 1916 Rising would be transmitted.

The Mná na hÉireann project involves a sculpture project. I made a representation to the former Minister, Deputy Deenihan, regarding a Stuart Dunne sculpture of an Irish woman involved in the 1916 Rising. I do not suggest the sculpture should be of a woman from my area. While Anne Devlin, faithful servant of Robert Emmet, lived long before the time of the Easter Rising, one of the reasons Pádraig Pearse came to Rathfarnham was because of his admiration for Robert Emmet. Many women could be put forward as subject for the sculpture, such as Julia Grennan, Elizabeth O'Farrell, Winifred Carney and any member of Cumann na mBan. I have made a representation on behalf of Stuart Dunne for the Mná na hÉireann project for 1916.