#Reclaim1916

CITIZENS CELEBRATE TRANSFORMATIVE MOMENT IN IRELAND’S HISTORY

PARADE with FREE OPEN AIR PAGEANT AND CONCERT

Merrion Square at 2pm, setting out for the GPO at 3pm April 24, 2016
Join Panti Bliss, Fionnuala Flanagan, Adrian Dunbar, Donal Lunny, Damien Dempsey, Don Baker, Frances Black, Laoise Kelly, Sibéal Ní Chasaide

Tomorrow, Sunday, April 24th the girls from Craobh O’Toole’s GAA club, Donnycarney, lead off the Reclaim 1916 parade from Merrion Square at 2pm. They carry our specially designed images of the Proclamation’s signatories to the GPO where actor Adrian Dunbar hosts a festival of music, dance and readings. Renowned actors, musicians, dancers join community groups, housing action networks, people trapped in direct provision, Travellers, women’s organisations, the Rossport community, the anti-war movement, LGBTI campaigns and Palestinian, Syrian and Kurdish support groups in Reclaim’s final initiative, a parade and open-air pageant and concert.


Chief patron of this citizens’ initiative, artist Robert Ballagh, says: “We’re delighted that Reclaim the Vision of 1916 culminates in this chance for all citizens of Ireland, including the forgotten, the ignored, marginalised and discriminated against, to gather together to celebrate a transformative moment in our history.

“The government’s military parade this Easter Monday provided no such chance. Many people living in Ireland who had a right to be there, were excluded from that event. Reclaim 1916 corrects this injustice. We are reclaiming the bravery and sacrifice of the men and women who fought in 1916. They weren’t mere rebels, they were visionaries calling for revolution and a complete transformation of Irish society.

“Our parade and free open-air pageant and concert have created a platform for a republic that successive governments have failed to deliver: a republic of equality and opportunity with nobody marginalised, left behind or forgotten or forced through economic circumstance to flee the country of their birth,” says Ballagh.

Adrian Dunbar and Fionnuala Flanagan, with Panti Bliss and Stephen Murphy, give readings. Musician Donal Lunny plays a piece he composed for the occasion. Singers include Don Baker, Frances Black and Damien Dempsey. Sibéal Ní Chasaide, who wowed viewers of RTE’s Centenary programme with her haunting rendition of Mise Éire, will also perform. Award-winning uilleann piper Tiarnain Ó Duinchinn, harpists Laoise Kelly and Michelle Mulcahy, and flautist Emer Mayock join them. Sean-nós dancer Sibéal Davitt is sure to keep the crowd on their toes!

This festival is the final event in the Reclaim 1916 programme.

Reclaim the Vision of 1916 is a civil society group of artists, academics, trade unionists, community activists, journalists and other interested citizens who believe Ireland can be reinvigorated by the ideals of the signatories of the Proclamation. The festival on April 24 is our final commemorative initiative. See www.reclaim1916.ie or like us on Facebook.

Video © Paula Geraghty