I've heard it said that if you forget the past that you lose both eyes. In other words if you don't know where you are coming from how do you know where your going.

Last year, our government commemorated the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising with the revival of the 1916 memorial parade for the first time since 1974. All parties were represented for this televised event involving hundreds of soldiers marching past the GPO. This year a smaller ceremony was held but it is the intention that the 100th anniversary will be the biggest ever.

It is only right that we should remember those who fought and died, we owe them a debt of gratitude. Not only did the men and women Volunteers of 1916 start the process of effectively ending centuries of British misrule over most of our country, they also gave hope and inspiration to many millions throughout the world struggling to end colonialism and foreign occupation. It is important that we as a people should celebrate this event, proudly and unapologetically.

To my mind, the most poignant part of these commemorations was the reading aloud of the Proclamation by a member of our Defence Forces outside the GPO as Patrick Pearse had done all those years ago.

The Proclamation is a document that was written by visionaries for a people of that time, but it is also a living document that has relevance for the Ireland of today.
We need to ask ourselves: do we live in an Ireland that guarantees "equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens" ? Are we living in a country that pursues "the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally"? I don't think so.

The ideals enshrined in the Proclamation continue to inspire me; I have included a link to reproduction of the original print to inspire you.

The Proclamation was roughly printed in two halves, as there wasn't enough typeset. Our revolutionary forbearers were men and women with little resources but they had a lot of heart.

The best way we can commemorate them in the future is not by remembering the means and filing even more armed soldiers past the GPO, but by working together to realise their dream.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PROCLAMATION >>>

"O wise men riddle me this: what if the dream come true? What if the Dream come true? and if millions unborn shall dwell in the house that I shaped in my heart, the noble house of my thought."

- from the poem The Fool by Patrick Pearse