Decade of Commemoration

‘A Terrible Beauty is Born’ WB Yeats

‘The 1916 Rising’ Its Context and Legacy

Luton Irish Forum was proud to deliver a fascinating evening of Irish history with two high profile speakers Ambassador Dan Mulhall, Embassy of Ireland and Dr. Ivan Gibbons, Programme Director of Irish Studies St Marys University. The period between 1912 and 1922 saw tumultuous change take place across the island of Ireland. Key events included the Home Rule crisis, WW1, the 1916 Rising, the rise of Sinn Fein and the foundation of Dáil Eireann, the War of Independence, the creation of the Irish Free State and the Civil War.

W B Yeats Irish Poet and one of the foremost figures in Irish British Literature. He was  born on 13th June 1865 Sandymount Co Dublin.

He was a pillar of both Irish and literary establishments and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1923. Together with Lady Gregory he was the driving force behind Irish Literary Revival and is credited with writing 402 poems his most famous works being Lake Isle of Innisfree (1890) the Tower (1928), Cathleen Ni Houlihan, The wild Swans at Coole, and A Vision.

In his later years prior to his death in Menton (France) 29th January 1939 he served as an Irish Senator and travelled regularly between Ireland and Britain, finally laid to rest in Drumcliffe cemetary  Co.Sligo 1948

They dealt with the background to the 1916 Rising in its wider context and the aftermath for British and Irish citizens. Ireland’s Ambassador to Britain Dan Mulhall then discussed Irish government plans for the 2016 commemorations and how the government is proposing to engage the Diaspora in the programme. 

The question and answer session was chaired by Pauline Lavin, MSC Event Management Graduate University of Ulster who will be fielding a series of questions around potential ways to engage the Diaspora in the 2016 commemorations and seeking to identify potential ideas that the Irish government and tourism agencies could develop.