It has been officially confirmed that the Government will not introduce any public holiday to celebrate the centenary of the 1916 Rising next April.
The news comes after the Sinn Fein party put forward a bill that would have seen the 24th of April being made a national holiday known as ‘Republic Day’. However it seems the coalition is opposed to introducing the new holiday as they say the Easter Bank Holiday would provide a day of national celebration instead. The Sinn Fein party said the new holiday would have commemorated the exact day Padraig Pearse read the proclamation from the GPO.
Meanwhile the news that there will be no public holiday has angered Sinn Fein TD Aengus O’Snodaigh who says he thinks the special circumstances should allow a special public holiday. Mr O’snodaigh said: “I think it would be appropriate for every year, especially for next year, given that we’re marking it once in a lifetime, in fact more than a lifetime it’s 100 years.”