Paul Bradford (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, support the motion and echo the words of the previous speakers. I listened to the contribution of the proposer and seconder of the motion in my office and their passionate comments show how committed they are to this proposal. It is politically depressing - this is not a partisan point - that such a sensible, reasonable, non-political and non-judgmental motion could not be approved without a Government amendment being tabled. We are speaking about history and learning from the past. Surely one of the lessons of the politics of these Houses over the past 40 to 50 years is that both sides, Government and Opposition, can come up with good ideas and suggestions and the font of wisdom is not always on the Government side. I thought we had moved on a little and, as a House, we could be willing to accept a completely non-judgmental, informative and interesting motion. I hope the Minister of State is embarrassed about the amendment and that if the numbers stake up, it will be rejected. It is the sort of washed-out faded politics which, if the Minister of State will excuse the pun, we should try to confine to history.

Returning to the subject before us, I completely agree with the motion presented by Senators O'Donnell and Mac Conghail. It is something which I have spoken about previously because so many of the tragedies on this island and in our county have occurred because of the warped misunderstanding and presentation of Irish history. Much of the carnage and mayhem which we saw on the streets of Northern Ireland and, unfortunately, on the streets of this Republic over the past 40 or 50 years would not have occurred were it not for the one-sided presentation of fact, turning fiction into reality and the uneven presentation of our history. For better or worse, we all are part of the product of history, good and bad. If we can try to ensure that every student at the earliest possible opportunity is given a balanced view of history and is educated that no one is all right and no one is all wrong and that there are two sides to every part of our history, that would be a major step forward.

The Minister of State represents a Border constituency. People in his county, as he will be aware, on many occasions, took different views on the conflict in his county and on the other side of the Border. People held firmly to views, which we may not have agreed with, but at least we should be able to examine, understand and try to explain what happened. It is great to see so many television documentaries now - some documentaries, like the "Collision" programme last night, are uncomfortable - forcing us to recognise what happened, some of which we pretend we did not know was happening. We all require a greater knowledge of history but it must start in the classroom.

We could have, and perhaps should be having, much more philosophical discussions about education, its purpose and value. Half of the country gets excited every June about the so-called leaving certificate examination as if it somehow is a yardstick to a person's future, value and worth. We are dumbing down education with the concept of points, qualifications and courses. Local history and matters such as one's knowledge of one's community, parish and county, as enunciated by Senator Heffernan, are merely cast aside as being irrelevant. We proudly proclaim about this marvellously educated country we have and having the best educated young people in the world. When one asks some of these people what is the meaning of the name of their parish, what happened in their parish during the Civil War or who from their parish fought for the British Army in the World War I, they have no knowledge of the history of the people in their parish and yet these are the supposed best educated young people in Europe, if not the world.

We have a considerable amount to learn about our educational system, but I am adamant that the lack of balanced history teaching and the lack of willingness to accept that there is another side to our history has been a cause of much misery on this island. It was probably only when I went to secondary school that I realised the tragedy of the Civil War was not as black and white as it seemed and that, in a general election, the people actually supported the treaty and Michael Collins's view of settlement. For 40 or 50 years, that view was deliberately written out of Irish history, and this is not a bash Fianna Fáil moment on my part. There was the famous occasion in 1966 when the then Department of External Affairs annual official directory of Ireland, in the chapter of significant Irish persons, did not even mention Michael Collins. There are also two sides to the story in the history of Michael Collins but the necessity, from our perspective, is to try to ensure that the two sides or sometimes the three or four sides are very much on the public agenda for debate. Nobody is right or wrong in history because we cannot judge the deeds, actions or thinking of persons 50 or 100 years ago, but we must at least try to force ourselves to try to examine matters from their perspective.

This motion, while short, is crucial. The Minister of State and his colleagues should allow it. I am not calling it an innocuous motion but it is innocuous from a party-political perspective. It is important from an educational perspective. Surely, as an equal House of the Oireachtas, we should be able to support such a concept.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for the bit of leeway. I will conclude by saying that when I first served in the Seanad some years ago, it was a privilege to sit alongside the former Senator, Professor John A. Murphy, from Cork. His so-called revisionism of history was not revisionism; it was simply forcing us to recognise and respect the fact that there was a second side to the story. It was an education being in the Chamber with that gentlemen, who is still hale and hearty and writing letters to The Irish Times, including one today. He forced us, in an uncomfortable fashion, to see another side to the so-called glorious deeds of previous generations. If one adds that to the contribution of others, such as the late former Senator, Gordon Wilson, and others, we have all learned so much. We must ensure that everybody learns and it must start in the classroom. Long after the 1,000 points, the 500 points and the fancy courses have passed, people will need to have a knowledge of place and history. That is why this motion is so important and why I am so pleased to support it.