SEPT 2012 Comóradh ISSUE 1 A Newsletter for the Irish Abroad in the Decade of Commemorations “Over the coming years, this Government will be working at home and abroad to commemorate these events and to honour those who were part of them.” Dear friend, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan launched 2012 is the first year in a decade of very a new permanent exhibition in the In this issue... important anniversaries. The years from National Museum including a fully 1912 – 1922 saw a series of momentous restored Asgard, the yacht piloted by events in Ireland, and beyond, which Erskine Childers in the Howth gun- changed the course of Irish history and running of 1914. led to the foundation of the state. Over the coming years, this Government There will be other anniversaries too. will be working at home and abroad Next year, the 50th anniversary of to commemorate these events and to the visit to Ireland by President John honour those who were part of them. F. Kennedy will be an opportunity to celebrate more recent links between 1912 saw the introduction in Ireland and America. Westminster of the Third Home Rule Bill, which set the stage for the conflict Over the coming decade, Irish people of the following years. It also saw at home and abroad will remember our the mass mobilisation against Home shared history. We will look back on Rule in Ulster, led by Edward Carson, the events which shaped us, from the James Connolly culminating in the signing of the Ulster 1913 Lockout to the First World War, Covenant. And, of course, it was also and to the 1916 Rising and beyond. We Tánaiste launches Connolly the year of the most famous maritime will remember those times not just in Commemorative Committee in disaster in history, the sinking of the exhibitions, books and lectures but also New York 2 Titanic, built in the Belfast shipyards. through art, music and storytelling. Minister Deenihan launches In marking these centenaries, I invited It is important that commemoration of Bureau of Military History Website 2 Northern Ireland First Minister Peter the past is something which engages Robinson to Dublin earlier this year, the global Irish family, around the world. Minister of State McGinley opens where he delivered the Edward This is the first in a series of regular exhibition on the Ulster Covenant Carson Lecture, reflecting on the newsletters intended to highlight in Donegal 2 future direction of Irish Unionism. In some of the events taking place in the September, my Department supported course of the decade. Embassies and Asgard exhibition launched in exhibitions in the Donegal, Cavan and Consulates will also provide additional National Museum 3 Monaghan County Museums, looking information on any local events. at the backgrounds of those ordinary I hope that you will be able to be Northern Ireland First Minister men and women from the border Peter Robinson delivers The counties who signed the Covenant part of this exciting journey over and associated Declaration. President the coming years. Edward Carson Lecture in Dublin 3 Higgins attended a solemn service in Letter from Minister for Arts, Cobh, Co. Cork, in April, marking the final stop on the journey of the Titanic Heritage and the Gaeltacht, before it sank in the North Atlantic. Jimmy Deenihan T.D. 4 Eamon Gilmore T.D. But these are not the only events Tánaiste and Minister for Easter Rising Commemorations remembered this year. In August, Foreign Affairs and Trade in Dublin 4 1 of 4 It also includes audio recordings of key The archive is available at figures from the period, including Maud www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie. Tánaiste launches Gonne McBride, labour leader William commemorative initiative O’Brien and Áine Ceannt, widow of for 2013 in New York 1916 leader Eamon Ceannt. Minister of State McGinley In September 2012, the Tánaiste Eamon Speaking at the launch, Minister opens exhibition on the Gilmore launched a new initiative Deenihan said: “Our Archives are Ulster Covenant in Donegal in New York with the leaders of the essential in the preservation of primary labour movement to commemorate the sources for study by future generations. On 15 September, Minister of State at close ties between the U.S. and Irish This launch is the culmination of the Department of Arts, Heritage and labour movements as we approach the years of work by the Military and the Gaeltacht, Dinny McGinley T.D. centenary of formative events for both. National Archives. The records held opened an exhibition on the signatories within this collection cover almost of the Ulster Covenant in Donegal, A series of special events in the US to the entire duration of the Decade of at the Donegal County Museum in be held in 2013 will be directed by Commemorations, providing primary Letterkenny. the new Connolly Commemorations source material for the revolutionary Committee, chaired by John Sweeney, period in Ireland from 1913 to 1921. The exhibition is part of a wider former President of the AFL-CIO. initiative in Donegal, Cavan, and “The Bureau of Military History Monaghan to commemorate the website will make a significant centenary of the Ulster Covenant, which contribution to the goals of the was signed on 28th September 1912. Minister Deenihan launches Public lectures and exhibitions have Decade of Commemorations by Bureau of Military History been organised in all three counties, encouraging scholarly and original Website to explore the history and legacy of the research on the momentous events 35,000 people in those counties who In August, the Minister for Arts, of this period in our history both signed the Ulster Covenant – 17,000 Heritage and the Gaeltacht launched nationally and internationally. In in Donegal alone. the Bureau of Military History website at funding and developing this Cathal Brugha Barracks in Dublin. Support provided for the exhibition by project, the State is paying tribute the Department of Foreign Affairs and This project, which was undertaken by to the sacrifices of the past and Trade’s Reconciliation Fund forms part the Defence Forces Military Archives celebrating the achievements of a of the Government’s commemorative in collaboration with the National revolutionary decade. programme for 2012. Archives (Department of Arts, Heritage Speaking before the event, Minister and the Gaeltacht), involves the “The Military Bureau’s official brief McGinley said: digitisation of over 35,000 pages, 42 was ‘to assemble and co-ordinate sets of photographs and 13 voice material to form the basis for the recordings from primary sources “The events of the decade 1912 compilation of the history of the covering the revolutionary period in – 1922 changed the course of Ireland from 1913 to 1921. The Bureau movement for Independence from history in Ireland. The signing of collection is among the most important the formation of the Irish Volunteers the Ulster Covenant 100 years ago primary sources of information on the on 25th November 1913, to the was a defining moment in that revolutionary period, and was made 11th July 1921’. Anyone who sees period and its consequences have available to the public in 2003. these collections online will have to impacted on every person on this The new website allows users to search agree that they accomplished this island in the decades that followed. by name or other criteria against all goal with distinction”. It is important that we remember witness statements and other items. the ordinary men and women in every corner of Ulster who signed the Covenant in their hundreds of thousands, to better understand their hopes and aspirations for the society in which they lived. It is only right that we reflect on its causes and legacy. The Reconciliation Fund is supporting commemorative activities and also wider community initiatives to ensure that voices from the past are heard, but also to contribute to increased Deputy Chief of Staff Major General Ralph James, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the understanding of how to move Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan TD, Ms. Catríona Crowe, National Archives and Cmdt Padraic forward together in a spirit of Kennedy with “Sliabh na mBan, the recently restored armoured car associated with Michael mutual respect and understanding.” Collins and the Beál na mBláth 2 of 4 The launch of this exhibition Asgard exhibition launched presents an opportunity to reflect in National Museum on the complexities of the time and to remember Erskine Childers On 8 August, Minister for Arts, Heritage in the range of identities and roles and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan - as a writer and sailor, as a soldier launched a new permanent exhibition at of the Empire who became an Irish the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Nationalist, and as a Republican Barracks entitled “Asgard: The 1914 that could not be reconciled to the Howth Gun Running Vessel Conserved”. outcome of the struggle, even as a The yacht Asgard, an iconic item of member of the Treaty delegation. Irish heritage and history, was formerly owned by the Irish nationalist and writer “I hope that through scholarship Erskine Childers and his wife Molly. and research in the coming years Asgard was built in 1905 by one of Norway’s most famous boat designers we will enhance our knowledge to the specifications of the newly of the revolutionary age. I would married couple. like to acknowledge all that has been done to prepare this Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore TD, Asgard’s most famous voyage in 1914 special exhibition and to thank all First Minister Peter Robinson MLA was part of a gun-running expedition. and Deputy First Minister Martin those involved. I will encourage Childers, his wife and a small crew McGuinness at Iveagh House in advance of the Edward Carson Lecture made the channel crossing into Howth everyone to come to see Asgard harbour just north of Dublin, laden with and the associated exhibition that a hold full of rifles from Germany to arm tells her story and acknowledges The lecture was preceded by a panel the Irish Volunteers.