Taoiseach’s 1916 speech ignored Labour role

ENDA KENNY TD has described how the Taoiseach used his speech at the opening of the 1916 exhibition at the National Museum to airbrush out Fine Gael’s contribution to Irish history.

In fact, the most blatant revision of history by the Taoiseach in that speech, and in the commemorations as a whole, was in relation to the role of the Labour Party in 1916 and the foundation of the Irish State.

A document that should have been included by the Taoiseach in his speech at the National Museum as one of the “cornerstones of independent Ireland in the 20th century” was the Democratic Programme adopted by the first Dáil in 1919 that was drafted by Labour leader Thomas Johnson.

The Democratic Programme was a continuation of the republican and socialist ideals of James Connolly that declared “the right of every citizen to an adequate share of the nation’s produce”.

Most incredibly, on the Taoiseach’s website, and in the booklet issued to mark the 1916 commemorations on Easter Sunday, while it was mentioned that James Connolly “founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party” there was no reference whatsoever to the fact that Connolly founded the Irish Labour Party and was a member of the national executive of the Labour Party when he was executed in 1916.

Senator Joanna Tuffy

Seanad Éireann

Leinster House

Dublin 2