Micheál Martin sets stall for 1916 events

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has accused the Government of taking a “highly partisan” and “often tribal” approach to Ireland’s past, as preparations get under way to commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising.

The focus of events in two years’ time should be about the Irish people, he said, and “nothing should be allowed to distract” from that.

The 2016 commemorations “can be a wonderful moment for our country where we put aside the things which divide us on a daily basis and remember those things which unite us”, he said. “It could also be a moment which is lost because of leaders too interested in elite set-pieces or actively promoting a party version of history.”