Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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593. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht his plans to commemorate the landing of weapons to the Irish Volunteers from the Asgard in August 1914; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46180/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The founding of the Irish Volunteers will be commemorated on 24 November next with military ceremonies at the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, Dublin. The Pillar Room of the Rotunda Hospital will be opened to the public from Monday 25November to Friday 29 November 2013, where an archival exhibition with artefacts from the period can be viewed. Since August 2012, a permanent exhibition of the conserved yacht Asgard at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, profiles the historical background and the roles of the principals, and includes a narrative account of the landing of arms. Specimens of the imported weapons are included in the exhibition.

An official commemorative initiative is being prepared to mark the centenary of the landing of arms at Howth and the subsequent shooting of civilians in Dublin. I am also aware that a community programme is being prepared in Kilcoole, Co Wicklow, to commemorate the landing of arms there.

Adding credibility to the threats of armed resistance during the Home Rule crisis, the import of weapons by the Volunteer movements in 1914 was a transformative development and directly enabled the Easter Rising to take place in 1916. As we reflect on the progress of the historic events in the centenary programme, it is appropriate that the significance of the landing of arms and the consequences would be acknowledged.