James Heffernan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I make this contribution as a student of history, a subject in which I have been interested since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Young people should be interested in history. If we do not understand or have knowledge of our past and the mistakes we made, we will not be in a position to create the brighter future to which we aspire. Irish people are surrounded by history, whether in the fields, moats and ditches or in the ruins of the castles one finds in every town and village. It is difficult to fathom the reasons for downgrading history at junior cycle. Why deny people the opportunity to learn about the past? Why keep them in the dark? The country has been held back for some time. We need only consider the various industrial schools that operated around the country. The Government appears to be engaged in an effort to brush these types of issues under the carpet, which is not a way to promote any form of progress.

We are moving into a historical decade of commemorations for which terrific events are planned. Last week, for example, the Seanad discussed the legacy of William Butler Yeats. A fantastic exhibition in Collins Barracks on events in Gallipoli has brought history to life. If we do not educate people impartially and present them with the facts of history - what happened, the reasons it happened and where it has led us - we will, as Senator Jim D'Arcy stated, deny people a sense of enlightenment. Everyone should strive to seek enlightenment and to enlighten others at all times.

History is subjective and can be hijacked by different interest groups to suit particular agendas. I have seen so-called socialist republicans commemorate Sean South who could not have more right-wing than Franco. I am wary of the practice of hijacking history in pursuit of certain aims. History is about facts that we know about and events that took place. We should not try to deprive young minds of factual commentary.

My grandparents and great uncles were fantastic in teaching history to me and I had a great teacher, Tommy Moore, of leaving certificate history and great history teachers in the University of Limerick. Ireland has many fantastic historians, including Professor Diarmaid Ferriter, for whom I have the utmost regard.

I wholeheartedly support the well-intentioned motion introduced by Senators O'Donnell and Mac Conghail who are clearly passionate about our past. We should all be passionate about our past and future. As I stated, without knowing about and learning from the mistakes of the past, we are destined to repeat the same cycle. We are often told that history is cyclical but that need not be the case. Learning from and understanding the past helps us to create a better future. This has always been my philosophy. History should be a compulsory subject at junior certificate level as it will be good for future generations.