The Sunday Edition can usually be relied upon for intelligent, interesting and engaging discussions, but it surpassed itself today. Michael Enright leads coverage of the Easter Rising centenary, and talks about its legacy on modern Irish history. Excellent, excellent programming.
Few crushed rebellions have spawned as much poetry, song, legend and heated argument, as the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. The Rising was doomed as a military operation. But it set in motion the final bloody struggle for Irish independence after 800 years of English rule. And it continues to shape the consciousness and politics of modern Ireland. As the country marks the 100th anniversary of the Rising, Michael Enright goes to Dublin to visit the iconic locations of the Rising: the General Post Office on O’Connell Street’ where it all began; Kilmainham Gaol, where the leaders were executed by the British; and Glasnevin Cemetery, where the dead of Ireland’s independence struggles lie.