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.