Idea for controversial 1916 banner came from Taoiseach's Department

THE IDEA to erect a controversial 1916 commemorative banner which features four Irish politicians unconnected to the Easter Rising on College Green Bank of Ireland in Dublin, came from the Department of An Taoiseach.

The banner features Henry Grattan, Daniel O'Connell and Charles Stewart Parnell – all of whom were long-dead by 1916 – as well as John Redmond, the recruiting sergeant for the British Army in Ireland who urged tens of thousands of Irishmen to fight on behalf of Britain in World War 1.

Its appearance in Dublin City centre last week caused controversy and accusations of historical revisionism.

The building on which it has been erected previously served as the Irish Houses of Parliament for most of the 18th century before its abolition by the Act of Union in 1800.

Deputy City Librarian Brendan Teeling confirmed to The Irish Times that the idea for the banner had come from the Taoiseach's Department.

Other banners erected in Dublin include one featuring the 1916 Proclamation on the Dublin City Council offices on Wood Quay along with another planned to feature the women of the Rising.

The inclusion of John Redmond of the Irish Parliamentary Party is particularly controversial as he led the British Army's recruting campaign in Ireland.

He urged thousands of Irishmen to fight for Britain in WW1 by wrongly asserting that in fighting for the Crown they were also securing Irish liberty through the promise of Home Rule.

Following the Rising, Redmond denounced the republican movement and wrongly claimed that the entire Rising had been a “German plot”:

“I do not believe that this wicked and insane movement will achieve its ends. The German plot has failed,” he said.

Reacting to the banner, Sinn Féin Councillor Paul Donnelly tweeted: 

“Tourists will be torturing the poor guides with ‘so, where did these guys fight?”