THE EXACT CENTENARY of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic was commemorated by Sinn Féin at the GPO on Sunday morning 24 April. The Proclamation was read from the platform several times that day but the first reading was in the Irish language by Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD, Cathaoirleach of Sinn Féin’s National Centenary Committee. Actor Ed Cosgrove played Pádraig Pearse, reading the Proclamation in English, and Martin McGuinness spoke. A short pageant linking the flags of Ireland with the 1916 leaders was narrated by Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan and by Dublin City Councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha, our history columnist, who scripted it. We carry here an edited version. Free article

THE PERSONAL STORIES of former POWs were at the heart of a series of events organised over the May bank holiday weekend to mark the 35th anniversary of the 1981 H-Blocks Hunger Strike. Premium service article