President opens conference on 1916 Rising

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese opened a major conference in Cork last night that aims to place the 1916 Rising in a wider historical context.

Mrs McAleese said the ideals of an equal Ireland set out in the Proclamation of Independence are only now coming into focus.

The country is now in an economic position to realise the social aspirations of the revolutionaries, she said.

She was speaking at the conference at University College Cork, organised to mark the 90th anniversary of the Rising, which will feature leading experts.

Gabriel Doherty, of UCC’s History department, said the conference will also explore the many events which lead to the Rising.

“There are many who think the rising was the start of something - that the rising was the year zero of Irish history - and there is some merit to that,” he said.

“But the Rising didn’t spring from nowhere. It itself was the product of existing forces.

The Long Revolution: The 1916 Rising in Context will feature experts in academia, politics, the military and the law.

They will analyse the political, social, economic and cultural background to, and the events and legacy of the Rising.

Meanwhile, Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin signed an agreement yesterday between his department and UCC to promote the development of the college’s Tyndall National Institute - a base for more than 300 research scientists, engineers and students.