· www.decadeofcentenaries.com is an initiative of Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, in association with History Ireland
Friday, 27th December—A website to accompany the Decade of Centenaries commemorations programme, www.decadeofcentenaries.com, is now live online. This website, along with associated Facebook and Twitter feeds, is being developed by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in partnership with History Ireland magazine and will feature notice of forthcoming commemorative events related to the many significant centenaries to be commemorated in Ireland and the wider world between now and 2022.
Minister Deenihan commented:
“This site will be an important tool in raising public awareness of the many commemorative events taking place throughout the country over the coming months and years. I hope that people will use this site as a portal through which they can receive updates on the programme as well as accessing expert commentary from the Century Ireland project, the History Ireland website and magazine, and other government departments and agencies active in commemorations.
“I also hope that community and voluntary groups will submit details of proposed events. If events are consistent with the guiding principles laid down by the Expert Advisory Group on Commemorations, the team behind the website will be able to publicise and record these events.”
Tommy Graham, editor of History Ireland, commented:
“This is a one-stop-shop for all those—academics, community groups, history buffs or the culturally curious—interested in the ongoing ‘Decade of Centenaries’.”
The website features a large volume of unique content including digital versions of past exhibitions—for example the recent Defence Forces exhibition on the Centenary of the Irish Volunteers [http://www.decadeofcentenaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/1-11v5-2.pdf]—as well as material from the History Ireland archive that is being made available free of charge online for the first time.
The website will provide a central point of reference with:
· Notices of commemorative initiatives brought forward by Government, local authorities, national cultural institutions, colleges, military and local history associations, ex-service organisations and community groups.
· A record of commemorative events undertaken in the ‘Decade of Centenaries’.
· A profile of the events that took place in Ireland in 1912-22, in a manner that will provide an impetus for future commemorative events at local and national level.
· A ‘portal’ to collate and access relevant background material and source material to explain these events (Century Ireland, History Ireland, NLI, NMI, National Archives, etc).
The ethos of the website is inclusive and respectful of different traditions. The broad categories for inclusion are for official commemorations and community events in Ireland and abroad relating to the political, cultural, or socio-economic history of the period between 1912 and 1922.