National maturity will be tested during Civil War commemorations, Manning

The Chairman of the advisory board on commemorations, Maurice Manning, has suggested that the 2022 commemorations for the Civil war will be “a huge test of our national maturity”.

Speaking at the Parnell Summer School in Rathdrum in Co. Wicklow this afternoon Mr Manning said the public were way ahead of the politicians at every stage of the 1916 commemorations.

"But the big test is coming up now, and that is when we come to look at the events after 1916, especially the way we handled the Civil War.

"The Civil war soured Irish life for over half a century. It divided families, it divided communities. Now it’s only a memory but it’s capable of exciting very bad feelings again"