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AR SON NA POBLACHTA ***FINAL***

AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 WOMEN MARCHING PAST Image Name: AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 WOMEN MARCHING PAST
AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 VETERAN WOMEN Image Name: AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 VETERAN WOMEN
AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 VANTAGE POINT Image Name: AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 VANTAGE POINT
AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 LOOKING DOWN ON O'CONNELL STREET Image Name: AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 LOOKING DOWN ON O'CONNELL STREET
AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 INSURRECTION Image Name: AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 INSURRECTION
AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 DEV Image Name: AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 DEV
AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 DEV MCU 2 Image Name: AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 DEV MCU 2
AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 DEV CU Image Name: AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 DEV CU
AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 ARMY SIOBH+üN McKENNA GALWAY Image Name: AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 ARMY SIOBH+üN McKENNA GALWAY
AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 ARMY MARCHING Image Name: AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 ARMY MARCHING
AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 ARMY MARCHING ws Image Name: AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 ARMY MARCHING ws
AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 ARMY MARCHING PAST Image Name: AR SON NA POBLACHTA - 1966 ARMY MARCHING PAST

Episode 3

On Easter Sunday 1966, President Eamon de Valera, the last surviving commandant of the 1916 Rising, launched the Jubilee Commemoration of the Easter Rising with a massive parade in O’Connell Street.

Although he was 83 years of age and with failing sight, the President played a leading role in a week of events to mark the  Easter Rising of a half century previously. The week’s events included ceremonies in Dublin and nationwide, the opening of museums, outdoor pageants and television drama depicting the Rising, the unveiling of statues, presentation of prizes to schoolchildren, and the minting of commemorative stamps and coins. It was an all-encompassing celebration of the birth of a nation.

But even as the people celebrated the revolutionary founders of the State, Ireland stood on the brink of a new era, one that the aged president could not see or understand.

Ireland, in the 1960s, was a country on the move. Entertainment boomed with the opening of beat clubs and dance halls, television was changing people’s material expectations, and a more open economy seemed to hold out the promise of a more prosperous life for Irish citizens. In this context, the celebration of the Easter Rising was seen in 1966 as a mark of respect to the past, while moving swiftly on to a brighter future.

But not everyone was willing to call it a day. Taoiseach Seán Lemass may have resigned in the aftermath of the celebrations, but the infirm and blind  de Valera stood again to be elected to serve a further seven-year term as President.

But why was 1966 the last great commemoration of these historic events? Did those commemorations influence subsequent events in the North? And did the Irish Government turn its back on its own history?

As we prepare to mark the 100th Anniversary, this final episode of AR SON NA POBLACHTA looks back at the 1966 commemoration of the Easter Rising from the perspective of some of those who took part in it, along side today’s historians. The programme features a wealth of colour footage of the events of Easter 1966 and of the thousands of Irish citizens, young and old, who turned up at the events: your parents or grandparents as children perhaps!

 

Presenter/Reporter:    Garry Mac Donncha

Producer/Director:      Seán Ó Méalóid