Government ignores sale of 1916 artefacts

THE sell-off of artefacts related to the 1916 Rising to private interests, many of them abroad, says a lot about the Government’s priorities today.

Any self-respecting government in the world would have taken such important items into State ownership and made them available to historians, students, writers and the general public. Rather than living up to the ‘common good’ ideals of the 1916 Proclamation, this Government is all too willing to sell off, or give away, to well-connected private interests. Valuable national assets such as Aer Lingus, eircom, toll roads and offshore oil and gas.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the commemoration of the 1916 Rising has been restricted to an unimaginative military march and a few photo opportunities for ministers, while it has been left to community, republican and socialist groups to organise more inclusive public meetings, workshops and debates on how the ideals of 1916 have (or have not) been realised.

Dessie Ellis

19 Dunsink Road

Finglas

Dublin 11