Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the detailed reply. I very much appreciate it.

There were one or two issues that occurred to me. First, I have noticed that there have been a short lead-in times in respect of certain events held in the past six months. I wonder whether it would be possible to publish a calendar over the next 12 to 24 months so that people would have up to six months' notice of events as opposed to hearing about them three or four weeks in advance. I am not blaming the Department or the Minister. It is merely the way things happen. The Department gives plenty of notice but it needs to be more proactive as regards highlighting what is coming up. The second issue relates to providing some programme with schools, particularly in view of the significant change in Irish history in the period 1918 to 1924. It is important that we involve schools as well.

On a third point, I tabled this motion because I was approached by a community group. A number of significant events happened in the group's area between 1918 and 1924 and it wanted to know what it can do to mark them. The Minister of State outlined that there is €5,000 allocated to each local authority. This is about involving communities.The Minister might consider developing a community scheme for individual communities that have an interest in this area.

I referred to an area in which there was a tragic loss of life but the community celebrated the event in a very sensitive way about two years ago. It was the best of all of the commemorations I attended and it was organised by a local community rather than a State agency or local authority. That is not a criticism of State agencies but a significant effort was made by this community and it is important that their effort is given recognition as well.