David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

General Eoin MacNeill countermanded the Rising. With regard to terrorism, of course they were not terrorists. They were poets, idealists and the like, and they called off the Rising because of civilian casualties. That is the reverse of terrorism. That shows a humanitarian concern, and I always credit these people with that.

However, what was the net result of it? There was the brutal and bloody Civil War and the bitter partition of Ireland. What do we have now to celebrate? We have a country that has accepted the gambling debts of the German and French banks and we have evictions. I do not know what there is to celebrate. What eventually emerged was a republic in which there is free speech and in which I am entitled to have a minority view of one. I had not intended to speak this evening, but the reason I did is so we can demonstrate that in this Republic there is at least a respect for freedom of speech. If that is what was won by 1916, I am all for it.