SCHOOLCHILDREN PROCLAIM HOPES AS FLAGS FLY HIGH
TRICOLOUR flags were flying high in every school in Ireland yesterday as part of the first ever Proclamation Day celebrations.
Some 4,000 schools and third-level institutes marked the significance of the 1916 centenary celebrations by raising the Irish flag and reading out the Irish Proclamation as it was written 100 years ago.
Each school in the country had a flag hand-delivered by a member of the Irish Defence Forces over the past number of months and the special ceremony took place in each school around noon yesterday.
Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys said: ‘Proclamation Day is a once in a generation occasion, when schools and universities will collectively recognise the significance of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic in this centenary year.
‘While the commemorations are primarily about reflecting on our past,
‘A vision for Ireland in the future’
the Proclamation for a New Generation initiative has given schoolchildren the chance to outline their vision for Ireland in the future.
‘This work will be showcased in thousands of schools across the country. Each school also raised their own National Flag, which was hand delivered by the Defence Forces in recent months under the Flags for Schools initiative.’
She added: ‘ The education programme has arguably been the most wide reaching and successful element of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme to date.
‘It has allowed our children and young people to learn about their history in a new and interesting way and it has encouraged them to think ambitiously about the kind of Ireland they want to build in the years ahead.’ Schoolchildren had also been asked to write their own versions of the Irish Proclamation, outlining what they would like Ireland to be like in 100 years’ time.
In Roscommon, the students at Kilteevan National School said that environmental issues should be tackled over the next one hundred years.
Their Proclamation read: ‘ We, the children of the twenty-first century, want to proclaim, for another hundred years, that Ireland is a great and good country.
‘We want a safe, green environment, free from litter and water pollution with clean, fresh air.’
Children from Rathfarnham Parish National School said: ‘Instead of fighting, we want people to use their words to fix problems. We love compromise, taking turns and sharing ideas.’
Cavan Institute commemorated 1916 with their flag raising ceremony in the presence of a patriot’s relative. The great-great granddaughter of James Connolly – Ms Pamela Leahy – read the proclamation alongside Institute director Ann Marie Lacey.