Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Colm Burke for raising this matter and giving us the opportunity to discuss it. The Senator has put forward some good ideas and the departmental officials will explore the possibilities and engage with the Minister on this, as well as with the advisory group. I suggest that the various groups to which he referred should engage with the relevant local authority and feed in their ideas to the system. The Minister wants to ensure the process is as inclusive as possible. The Department has put in the effort in local communities, local authorities and other bodies to engage with the people and get them involved. Naturally, we want to maximise the number of people who will be involved in the planning process and will participate in the events themselves.

The Minister and the Department are making a great effort to set out the events that will take place in the years ahead. The best way to keep up to speed on all the information is to access the specific website that is dedicated to the decade of centenaries,www.decadeofcentenaries.com. The Senator might pass it on to people as well because that is the best place to get the information and keep up to speed on the planned events in the years ahead. The Minister is very keen to involve the communities, schools and others as much as possible. The Department has been working very hard on events with some great success to date and will build on this success. I would appreciate it were Members to let groups know that they should be able to link in with the local authorities and libraries as well.