Irish Network Boston and the Consulate General of Ireland invite you to view our special recording of the reading of the 1916 Proclamation by INB member and WGBH Radio host, Brian O’Donovan. It is part of our contribution, “…to remember the events of 1916 in the full context of our history and to honour the people whose courage and idealism inspired a nation”.
Ireland 2016 is the Irish Government’s programme to mark the centenary of the rebellion of Easter 1916, the event that is generally regarded as having led to Ireland’s independence some six years later.
The Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme is underpinned by five intersecting and overlapping themes – Remembering, Reconciling, Presenting, Imagining and Celebrating.
The Proclamation is one of the most important documents of modern Irish history.
Drafted in large part by Padraig Pearse, it was hurriedly printed under very difficult conditions in Liberty Hall on the night before the Rising began.
Shortly before mid-day on Easter Monday, Pearse, standing under the GPO portico, read out the Proclamation declaring Ireland a sovereign independent Republic. Copies were then pasted up on buildings around the city centre.
An Post’s copy is one of the few to have survived the turmoil of Easter Week and the passage of nearly a century. It is now on public display in the An Post Museum in the G.P.O.
