WE are in a decade of centenaries – the Ulster Covenant of 1912, the outbreak of the First World War, the 1916 Easter Rising and Battle of the Somme, the first meeting of Dáil Éireann in 1919, the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the first meeting of the Parliament of Northern Ireland in 1921. There will, of course, be those who are only too eager to use the centenaries to trumpet old, divisive narratives of our past on these island. They will do so to sow new discord and new division in 21st century Ireland, seeking to undermine the peace and new relationships we enjoy on this island. Free article

THE 1916 commemorations present Irish society with a unique opportunity to reflect on and to interpret the events that shaped who we are. It is also an occasion to celebrate the lives of all Irish men and women from 1916 onwards who shared the common goal of building a new Republic, a New Ireland. Free article

‘A meaningful examination of how we can all remember our loved ones in an inclusive way (which recognises but respects the different role they may have played) is an essential part of this process’ – 2002, Sinn Féin Mayor of Belfast, Alex Maskey Free article

IT IS FOUR YEARS since Sinn Féin’s Declan Kearney called on republicans to be courageous “and embrace the discomfort of moving outside our political and historic comfort zones”. Free article

ADVANCING RECONCILIATION is not just about healing wounds or addressing hurt and division but also about ensuring that the conditions that created and sustained the conflict in Ireland are never to be repeated. Free article

THE YEARS between 1912 and 1923 saw major transformation in Ireland. The evolution and militarisation of the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Irish Volunteers, the First World War, the Easter Rising, the War of Independence, the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the subsequent Civil War all still resonate to great extent today in the politics of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It was both a violent and fascinating period in Irish history. Free article

I would suggest that the lack of traction for the Uncomfortable Conversations project amongst many people outside the republican tradition lies partly in the widespread disillusionment with politics generally Free article

IN THE FOREWORD to the Uncomfortable Conversations essays collection, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams stated: Free article

DO republicans and nationalists still, as I do, believe that a united Ireland is the best thing socially, culturally, economically and politically for the citizens of this island? If so, why are we still largely in the dark about what this united Ireland would look like? Free article

OLD RIVAL VERITIES of Orange and Green, of the struggle against colonialism and that between empires, have been subject to fresh scrutiny in the run-up to and during this Decade of Centenaries – of the Easter Rising, of the Somme, of partition. Free article