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National Monuments

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 12 May 2021

Wednesday, 12 May 2021

Questions (105)

Martin Browne

Question:

105. Deputy Martin Browne asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if there are supports available for local groups to erect monuments as part of the Decade of Centenaries programme. [24782/21]

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Written answers

My role as Minister with responsibility for leading the coordination of the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Programme is to help ensure that the challenging events of this important and formative period in our history and related themes, are meaningfully, proportionately and sensitively remembered.

On 16 December 2020, I announced funding of €1.75 million for local authorities in 2021, to support their leading role in developing community-led commemorative activities, for the final phase of the Decade of Centenaries Programme.

The provision or maintenance of memorials, erection of monuments, plaques, busts or statues and the production of commemorative medals or pins are not currently supported under my Department's funding allocation.

The guidance of the Expert Advisory Group (EAG) on Centenary Commemorations advises that local commemorative endeavours could helpfully focus on acknowledging the significance of the event or action, rather than on the individual personalities involved, which would be a matter for personal commemoration and personal remembrance. The Group advocates that the emphasis must always be on remembrance and commemoration of locally significant historical events and the avoidance of any sense of celebration. My Department has developed comprehensive guidance for the allocation of funding to assist local authorities. However, it is, of course, within the discretion of individual local authorities to provide support from within their own resources to local communities who wish to erect and maintain monuments, where this is deemed the appropriate approach.

It is anticipated that local authorities will receive a number of requests from commemorative committees and community groups seeking support for the erection of monuments and other memorials as we navigate through the sensitive forthcoming period of commemorations. While we recognise that these incidents and actions are undoubtedly of great local significance in the narrative of the part played by individual counties during the Struggle for Independence and Civil War, this is just one element within the Community Strand of the overall Decade of Centenaries Programme.

There is scope for a rich diversity of interesting and engaging commemorative initiatives to be curated from within the annual funding allocation from my Department to each of the local authorities. The provision or maintenance of monuments, memorials, plaques, busts, or statues, is not, however, eligible for funding under the Community Strand of the Decade of Centenaries Programme from my Department’s funding.

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