I think we should and I can’t understand why people would be against this?

I agree, independence day. Question is which date was that, signing the treaty or when we left the commonwealth?

Maybe we should, but it shouldn’t be the anniversary of the Easter rising. Ireland wasn’t an independent country until 29th Dec 1937 when the current constitution came into affect.

Independence Day would be March 24, anniversary of Easter Sunday 1916. (Rising was originally meant to start on March 23, anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf… factoid…)

The day we offically became a Republic would be best. The lads from the Rising are already well remembered – Connelly, Pearse, Hueston stations etc. Lets try and move on from our bloody past.

So then Canada and Australia aren’t independent?

How about celebrating our independence on 17th March, remains the international publicity whilst avoiding some of the politics that would surround a Republic Day as unlike other republics we still have some lingering ‘issues’

@ Chuck Farrelly. They are now, but Canada wasn’t technically independent until 1931 and Australia until 1942. Although until the Canada Act 1982 and the Australia Act 1986 the UK government could still legislate in these countrys. They both chose to keep the Queen as monarch. You see its all rather complicated :-)

Why, we’re not independent , they handed it away, the men that died would be ashamed. What a waste..

Only part of the country got independence. Personally I think we should have a day to remember the victims of the famine or as Thomas Kennelly put it “The Great Shame”

We would have to have independence first to have one of those pal.

Ireland could be deemed to have been fully sovereign in 1916 when some people proclaimed it, 1918 when we voted for a Republic in a general election that was more like a referendum, 21/1/1919 when the First Dáil ratified the proclamation (and the war of independence started), 1922 when we became the Irish Free State, 1931 when the UK declared that it would no longer interfere with any law passed by any of the Dominions or 1949 when the King was finally gotten rid of in the External Relations Act. The 1937 Constitution, fine document that it is, had no real effect on the matter of sovereignty despite appearances. Many of its provisions had already been enacted by De Valera already.

We are not a indepentent country anymore dont be fooling yourselves we have to answer to the eu for everything these days if we leave the EU then we will be truly independent

Connolly not Connelly

Well, technically Canada is not independent. It is still part of the commonwealth, has a Governor General who represents the queen and has to sign laws etc into the constitution. But there is a Canada day on July 1st which is when Canada was formed by the British and a number of provinces joined together to form the country of Canada.( upper and lower Canada etc…, present day ontario and Quebec respectfully)

Gareth, the Commonwealth of Nations is a completely separate issue to Canada’s constitutional affairs.
After the London Declaration of 1949 it allowed the Commonwealth to admit and retain members that were not Commonwealth realms, including both republics and indigenous monarchies. Second, it renamed the organisation from the ‘British Commonwealth’ to the ‘Commonwealth of Nations’, reflecting the first change.

Hence India and Pakistan are still in The Commonwealth, but they are independent republics.

Are we really independent when 20% of Ireland is still under British rule. Maybe we should wait for reunification day when the abandoned Irish people up north can celebrate .

We are not independent and we are a Republic only in name
As for a national day, our politicians allowed the catholic feast day of St Patrick to be hijacked by our rulers in the church to make Irish and Catholic one and the same thing.
Return St Patricks day to the Catholic Church and replace it with the Anniversary of the Easter Rising.

I assume all the red thumbs come from unionists, unaware that the original Easter Rising was intended to make Ireland a country where all citizens could live together without fear or prejudice, without, as their Proclamation of the Irish Republic put it, “the differences carefully fostered by an alien government”, and “cherishing all her children [in other words, all Irish citizens whether from a Gaelic or planter background] equally”.

What absolute visionary tripe that sounds like now, when you see the way their descendants raped this country.. How could you celebrate the shameful state of this country, after the sarcrafices those men made to put a dàil in place. Strokers , bluffer s , tax dodgers, and an idiot advocating the legalisation of drugs, celebrate!!! They should hang their heads on Easter Sunday or maybe leave the country like they do on St Patricks day .

Yes, Gerry Campbell.

But the people of Ireland have no reason for shame – we have worked, and are working, to make a country worth living in. The political hames comes from our having allowed a hereditary aristocracy to have evolved, arrogant, stupid and greedy, our political class.

Agreed. Agreed.

Not quite fourth of July, is it.

D’oh, what am I saying? April 24!

I definately agree with having a national day that recognises our independence. I’d prefer that it was suggested by the Government itself, not Sinn Fein, which (to me) stirs up anti-Britishness sentiments.

I favour a Freckle Fest myself!

It’s more than lightly Patrick Lyons doing the rounds on every laptop in Currys ….

A sizeable minority are ashamed of Ireland’s culture and history and would go as far as to call themselves Europeans rather than Irish.

@ Bilbo
Brilliant!! Comment of the week!!

Ibec members

I’d be on for April 18th, as 1949 was when we were technically independent.

What about the six counties?

Technically we were independent before then. Australia and Canada still have the Queen as head of state and they are independent.

well said tomas

Youre not allowed wear Celtic tops either? But theyre a British team!!! Madness!!

Celtic and a catholic team !!

counties sorry

Mind your own business cullen, your only a yank anyway

Apostrophes please Siobhan ..

I think you’ll find NI belongs to Irish people too. If they wish to be part of the British state, that is their right. It’s muppets like you and, unfortunately the men of 1916, who have instilled a fear of independence in a substantial minority on this island.

Oh and not to mention the pure incompetence with which this state has been ruled since its so called independence. It’s the Gombeen men we need rid of.

who u calling a muppet ye eejit lol

for u to say it is upto the people in the north to decide weither they stay part of britian in which it is not or to vote for a united Ireland in which every good thinking minded person wud want. at the end of day. it is up for a british sectary of state to make his or her mind weither to let the people vote for this it has been asked not so long ago for the people to have a refernduam it was denied by the brits so going by that the brits will never let the people decide wat they want to happen to the north so ur comment saying if they wish to stay part of britian doesn’t sit cause people have not made a decision yet. the best thing that shud happen is for the brits to hand bk to whole of Ireland to irish people butt out let us be our own independent country even the british people want that don’t no bout u’s in the freestate cause going by politicians down there doesn’t seem like they want us.

*piss

Looks like you’ve had a tipple or two this morning, Chris.

It was funnier when you said puss.

Aye, I thought that accent was dead on, muckah!

The May bank holiday would remain. That is an EU wide holiday.

If this was to be passed, we would end up with 4 bank holidays between March 17th and the May Bank Holiday and just 2 between August and Christmas. We could do with an extra bank holiday later in the year.

Pity they fought and were executed earlier in the year so. I think maybe we should celebrate what these men did gave their lives the ultimate sacrifice and not be worried about what we the people of a Banking Union now would like a day off for our schedules .Irish mentality is never collective really the first thought is always how and what can be done for Moi.

No British.

Which IRA are you talking about?

I may be corrected on this, but didn’t James Connollys Irish Citizen Army commence their 1916 actions by marching up to Dublin Castle, and without warning, blow the head off Constable Dermot O’Neill of the DMP, who was standing guard, just doing his job?

As long as the whole political establishment likes to commemorate these events then such violence is ok – but if it doesn’t suit, then it’s terrorism.

Wish I could give more than one thumb up for that comment

Eh .. Celebrate the death of over 30 children(youngest aged 2),not to mention the 250 innocent civilians from working class backgrounds who would have liked to live a little longer… Don’t think so.

I am in no way a SF voter I was a FF and switched to FG and trying to decide between FF and SF at the moment.

There past. We have it all wrong you have to go back on the history books first and see why it all began, they were failed twice by the Irish government who allowed them to be partitioned and left under the British dictatorship. Then left them there to suffer. 75% of Ireland voted for a united ireland, but the English wanted to keep a holding in Ireland so they kept NI but did not look after the people, they were treated as peasants shot burnt etc for about 30 years after partition before the Irish Catholics had had enough. Can you blame them they were treated like the blacks were in parts of America.
It was a fight for the rights of their neighbours and friends. They were school workers, ordinary everyday people most had never committed a violent act in their life.

Now what happen and things that went on were messy and too many lives were lost, 600 innocent people killed by the IRA. That’s wrong but British would have killed a lot more Catholics.

I don’t support any party at the moment just been looking into Irish history and how our media manipulated us during this. It’s fascinating.

I don’t know who to vote for but I won’t be doing it based this. I think I am swaying more towards SF I don’t know.

And Im from the Republic of Ireland. Im ok with celebrating the Independence of my state. The majority up in NI consider themselves British. When will you lot get that into your head?

True, if it is any date it should be when we actually GOT independence, not for a failed up rising that at the time did not have the support of the populace, they did gain it afterwards due to the reaction to the execution of the rising leaders.

In addition, the order to commence the uprising was rescinded but ignored by the Dublin units, hence why the battles were centred around the capital

Funnily enough your thumbs down are 19 and thumbs up are 16! Haha. Well at 10.49am it was. Genius!

1916 is not that far back. We’re a very young country.

What are you… a dirty IBEC member or something?

We could do with some national pride and self respect. It might help us grow up as a country instead of always tugging the forelock and exercising our inferiority complex.

I’ve bigger balls than you.

Bickering over Britain controlling Northern Ireland in 2013 is so silly and childish. There was reason to feel injustice when republicans used to be discriminated against in terms of jobs, education, voting etc. in the north and borders would guarded by policemen and soldiers but today people in the 6 counties have equal rights, can travel freely within the island and there is nothing restraining them from identifying as Irish or British. Please stop whining about flags and borders and get on with what really matters.

so what your saying is any1 born in the north or who lives in the north can’t state out the fact that Ireland is not an independent country and us here in the occupied 6 counties should just accept being under british control and just give over? KM u sound like aye sure its only the north who cares about them ins we got our freedom here in the south, and yes there is discrimation here in the north regarding jobs and houses just look at the most deprived parts of the north out of 40 deprived areas 38 are nationalists the percentage rate of whos allocated jobs are much lower for the nationalist people than it is for the unionist people big gap. and lets look at the housing problem in north Belfast 95 precent of waiting list is in nationalists areas well 5 precent is unionist areas but yet more houses get built in the unionist than there is in nationalists areas and there people on there 8 years waiting for a house for thems and there familys. st paddys as I says an irish day celebrated all round the world in the free state aamerica England asia all over ur aloud to fly the flag express irishness but here in the north if ur caught with an irish flag or anything related to irishness bar a shamrock u get arrested cud go on and on with examples discrimination is still rife here in the north. you and every person who thinks otherwise in the free state live in a bubble

typical west brit

In the past the Unionist government in Northern Ireland deprived Nationalist areas of services and education. The level of Nationalist areas that are deprived today is just a knock-on from these previous governments discrimination and self-interested policies. I would hope that there would be an improvement in these areas but it will a won’t be an overnight process. You said that Unionists have a higher job percentage than Nationalists. This is because of the fact that a higher proportion of Nationalists live in deprived areas and not because of their beliefs or political ideologies. People that live in more disadvantaged areas are always get less jobs than those in more privileged areas so it really is a non-statistic that you put forward. I said that bickering over Britain controlling the North was childish and the fact that you called me a “typical west brit” confirms how childish you really are.

nationalists are simply not getting jobs in the north because they either come from a nationalist area live in a nationalist or catholic that is the simple fact. well am hardly bickering for wanting my country to be free and u don’t seem to want to. wud u say that to every other occupied part of this world by the brits either in the past or to this day to stop bickering about being controlled by the brits and jus except it? if it were the the 26 counties that were occupied to this day and u want threw the discrimination etc wat the people had endure to this in the north wud ur response and attitude be different? well u do sound like u have west brit attitude

It is only because I am arguing against someone with your viewpoint that I seem like a have a “west brit attitude”. When the Unionists were rioting because the British flag was taken down in Belfast I argued against that and thought they were silly and childish. I really don’t have a preference to either group. I give you a reasoned argument as to why I thought Nationalist had a lesser job percentage and you came back to proclaim some nonsense about “simple fact” that they are just being discriminated against which had no basis in fact whatsoever. You do seem to have quite ignorant view of the Unionists’ beliefs and think that Ireland is “your country” rather than everyone’s country. You believe something different to them and don’t seem to really care about them at all. Flags and borders don’t matter as long as you have peace and freedom. People in the North have very differing views but are attempting to live in peace together despite their obvious differences. People have to open their minds to the other people’s beliefs and really don’t think that you are.

The legislation has a clause that says if April 24 falls on a weekend, the holiday should be observed the following Monday, unless it’s Easter Weekend, in which case the holiday is fixed for Good Friday (which isn’t, legally, a public holiday).

July 12 commemorates the Battle of Aughrim, which ushered in terror, famine, savage massacre, crop destruction, the hunting (literally) of ‘woodkernes’ (terrorised Irish people who had taken to the woods rather than be burned out of their homes, piked or hanged at random). Why should anyone celebrate it?

No, it celebrates the Battle of the Boyne. If you are going to go on a hysterical/historical rant, it might be an idea to check your facts.

Keith, the Battle of the Boyne was fought on 1st July 1690. The Battle of Aughrim was fought on 12th July 1691.

Yep Keith, we’ll do that when Israel celebrates cristallnacht in order to help build rapport with Germany.

Barry, it’s still for the Boyne. The changed calendars a few years later, and 12th July after is the same as 1st July before. The commemoration was originally on 1st of July, but was changed in line with the calendar change.

This kip never became a Republic. Calling a rotten banana an apple cake doesn’t make it an apple cake.

Is this the same EU that ‘required’ Ireland to bail out German and French banks bond holdings in Anglo Irish bank? I don’t think I’ll be celebrating.

I agree with you for the most part but I think you have a short memory.
How much money has the EU provided Ireland since joining?
When was the last time there has been an extended period of peace in Europe? This is largely due to the EU
Overall it has been probably the best thing to happen to Europe since the ice age ended.

There is no way I would celebrate an EU day. To spend another €70k on wine for a few hacks? You are joking me, right?

As for the fact that the EU got the peace prize…..Jesus wept. That was the most disgusting decision ever made and I could think of at least five people from the top of my head who would be far more worthy of that award. Mind you, it could have been Paul Hewson so I suppose I should be thankful for small mercies.

No thanks. Although I support the EU ideals, we have lost our way. We’ll see in a few years if it was the “best thing to happen to Europe” or if we’re back to square one.

The EU has kept the peace in Europe??Did you miss out on Yougoslavia in the 1990s??Not to mind Northern Ireland??As for all the money loaned to us..We have paid that back plus intrest in aces and spades,and are now doing it for private debt as well.
No thanks..The last thing I want to celebrate is any day of the EUSSR.

Wrong country Lyons.

Patrick the brit full of shit!!!

Enda Kenny will be leading the 2016 “celebrations”. The shame of it.

@ censored, that is truly gruesome. Enda and the boys will strut their stuff, feel proud of the great job that they are doing and laugh behind their hands at us. Truly, the shame!

Enda Kenny, Rabbite, Gilmore, Etc should not be allowed near any celebrations for 1916. They continue to destroy OUR Country. Go celebrate your German Victory.