1916 Proclamation: 2006 Reclamation

national | history and heritage | opinion/analysis Thursday May 18, 2006 20:49 by Fiachra O!

Not published by Irish Times when it was sent in by a friend last month but well worth a quick read!

Deirdre Ní Chonghaile from the Aran Islands sent this in to the Irish Times just before Easter and it wasn't published it. I thought it was brilliant when she showed me so I'm posting it here with her consent. Enjoy.

1916 Proclamation: 2006 Reclamation

A chara,
As in 1916, the single most important issue of our time is at once
national and international: US wartime activity in Shannon. The
short-term and localised economic gains from this wartime boon (that
is not ours) are ill begotten, and our government has thus rendered
this nation and its people as legitimate, fateful targets.
On Easter Monday next, Shannon Airport could become the GPO of our
generation. In an act of commemoration for 1916 and reclamation for
2006, Shannon could become the place in which Ireland takes her place
in the world once more, this time as a peaceful, anti-war nation,
which is what the majority of her citizens already make her.
Commemorating an act of war with an act of peace is an eloquent way to
show how far we have come toward being a civilised society.
But who will stand? Who will reclaim? Who will persuade the
powers-that-be that economic gain for the Shannon region is a price
too cheap for the future of all Ireland's 'cherished children'?
Le meas,
Deirdre Ní Chonghaile