More Danny Boyle and less Danny Boy is what we need
Joe Duffy will be delivering a lecture on his ongoing research into the 40 children killed in the 1916 Rising next Wednesday evening in the Little Museum of Dublin.
IT WASN’T just the spectacular ‘rebellion weather’ that contributed to the enormous success of last Monday’s Road To The Rising event in Dublin’s O’Connell street – it was the content, tone and atmosphere generated by the spectacular. In truth, last Monday owed more to the imagination of Danny Boyle than the hoary old sentimentality of Danny Boy. And it hit the nail on the head. Irish people want to mark the events of a century ago in telling the stories of all those involved, in light and in darkness, hope and despair – right and wrong.
It proved also that when non-party political groups come together to remember the 1916 Rising it seems they manage to capture the public imagination at its best.
So when RTÉ, An Post , Dublin City Council and the Department of Arts, Culture and Heritage came together over the past few months for the massive planning needed for the event, with no party political agenda, it became a recipe for success.
It is bizarre that 100 years after what Éamon de Valera described as the greatest single event in Irish history we still do no know basic details about those who died. So the work of the Glasnevin Trust in compiling an initial list of 485 killed in the Rising is a fantastic project. It has compiled a list of names of those who died from correct names and addresses to burial spots.
The past month has also demonstrated that when political parties get into a tug of war over who owns the ‘legacy of 1916’, coupled with bizarre publicity stunts, the results are to say the least unedifying – and off-putting to the general public.
There is an uneasy feeling that events organised by political parties, some of whom did not even support the insurrection, are in danger of being used for votes in the run-up to the 2016 general election.
So ‘Irishman’ Danny Boyle got it right with the unforgettable open- ing of the London Olympics in 2012 – for many, it is the abiding memory of the games.
Boyle added his formidable movie directorial skills to inject narrative, character and colour into the story of modern Britain – including tragedy and triumphs.
While most people immersed themselves into the 1915 atmos- phere of last Monday, the many indoor events, all of which were massively oversubscribed, proved there was an insatiable appetite for the history and detail about life in Ireland a century ago.
If last Monday is seen as the start of the year of commemoration, it has got it right .
Commemoration, education, information, sharing stories, history and entertainment can actually rhyme in the Ireland of 2016.