Irish Government to invite members of Royal Family to the centenary celebrations of the 1916 Easter Rising against British Rule



Members of Royal Family, politicians and Unionist leaders to be invited

It comes after the Queen's four-day visit to Ireland in May 2011

Plans still being finalised for hundredth anniversary of 1916 Easter Rising



Members of the Royal Family are to be invited by the Irish Government to commemorations marking the hundredth anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.



Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore said he hoped to host representatives of the Royal Family and the British Government in Dublin to remember those who fought for Irish freedom.

The Easter Rising is one of the most famous chapters in Ireland's struggle for independence. Also known as the Easter Rebellion, it was an armed insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916.

Damage caused by the Irish Republican Army's armed rebellion against British rule that took place on Easter Day in 1916, known as the Easter Rising, in Dublin, Ireland It was mounted by Irish republicans who aimed to end British rule in Ireland and establish an independent Irish Republic at a time when the United Kingdom was heavily engaged in World War I.

The Rising, which began on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, and lasted for six days, resulted in 450 people being killed, 2,614 injured, and nine missing - almost all in Dublin.

In a speech to the British Irish Association in Cambridge, Mr Gilmore said: ‘I would hope that we can host representatives of the Royal Family and the British Government, along with the leaders of Unionism, in Dublin ... in remembering the Easter Rising.’ Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore, pictured, said he hoped to host representatives of the Royal Family and the British Government in Dublin to remember those who fought for Irish freedom

Ireland's Ambassador to Britain, Daniel Mulhall, yesterday said the Queen’s visit to the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin three years ago had mellowed Anglo-Irish relations.



Speaking to The Times, he said: ‘It would have been a mad idea ten years ago. I do not think it is in any way out of the realms of reality these days — quite the opposite, I would have thought. In Ireland there won't be a problem.



‘I don't think that there is anybody in Ireland, anybody that has any influence, that would have any qualms about a royal guest at the 2016 commemorations.

‘The changed attitudes in Ireland are quite significant.’



However, Diarmaid Ferriter, Professor of modern Irish history at University College Dublin, disagreed.



He told The Times: ‘That would be a bridge too far when you consider what is being commemorated.

The damage caused by the Irish Republican Army's armed rebellion against British rule that took place on Easter Day in 1916, known as the Easter Rising, in Dublin, Ireland

Head bowed, the Queen laid a wreath for those who died fighting for independence at the Garden of Remembrance during her visit to Ireland in May 2011

A minutes silence is observed during the 90th Anniversary Parade of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin on April 16, 2006

The Irish army pay tribute to the bravery of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizens Army during the 1916 Easter Rising 90th Commemoration March in Dublin in 2006

‘It would be one of the things some historians here would have a concern about, that there is this kind of soft-centred aspiration to please everybody by contriving this communal appreciation of what happened. It seems to me to be distorting history.’



Plans are yet to be finalised for the centenary celebrations which are still two years off, but Mr Gilmore said he wants all sides to respectfully remember Irish men who died fighting in a British uniform.



He said: ‘Unless we are attentive and respectful to both traditions, nationalist and unionist, we will remain a divided society.



‘We each bear a dual civic responsibility.’



Troops searching for bodies in Dublin during the uprising in 1916 Which resulted in 450 people being killed, 2,614 injured, and nine missing

The Army march past the GPO during the 90th Anniversary Parade of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin on Sunday April 16, 2006