Ireland in 2016 must get closer to protecting and cherishing all children equally

Would the leaders of 1916 be happy with how we protect our children in the Ireland of today? James Reilly admits there is still a long way to go

ON APRIL 24, 1916, Padraig Pearse stood outside the GPO on Sackville St — now O’Connell St — in Dublin and read the Proclamation.

The reading of the Proclamation, signed by him and six others, marked the start of the Easter Rising. The historic document, which the signatories knew could cost them dearly, spoke of a Republic with “religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens”.