Take pride in a great work in progress

THIS Easter weekend will see the most concentrated celebrations of the 1916 Rising’s centenary.

Our capital is almost en fête and many, many champagne events are planned around the country. A brutal and initially destructive event will be marked by everything from sombre, thoughtful memorials to green-and-orange face painting and something like a mix of Pamplona’s bull run and fleadh cheoil na hÉireann.

The aesthetic, straight-laced idealists who led the Rising might not be entirely comfortable with the carnival, but they would surely rejoice that we can, because of their efforts, celebrate as an independent people in an independent Republic.