9 January 2022
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, recently announced funding of €2 million for local authorities in 2022 to support their leading role in developing community-led commemorative activities for the final phase of the Decade of Centenaries Programme.
€50,000 will be allocated to every local authority to support their commemorative programming for 2022. Minister Martin has also made a supplementary fund of €450,000 available to provide further supports to local authorities who have identified additional requirements in relation to specific centenaries of local significance and other larger projects, including cross-border initiatives.
Minister Martin said:
“I’d like to express my sincere appreciation to all of our local authorities for their continued engagement and enthusiasm this year, notwithstanding the ongoing challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our local authority partners have delivered thoughtful, imaginative, and ambitious commemorative programmes that allowed for meaningful public engagement, which encouraged and supported reflection and shared remembrance of key centenary moments in 2021.”
She continued: “Right across the country, community-led commemorative initiatives continue to make such a wonderful and important contribution to our understanding of these historical events – their impact, consequences and legacies. This is only possible through partnership and co-operation.
“In 2022, I plan to continue this collaborative approach between the State, local authorities, and local communities, which has worked so well to date, to ensure that in the penultimate year of the Decade of Centenaries, our shared history is remembered in an inclusive, measured, and balanced manner.
Cork City Green Clllr Colette Finn
Cllr Colette Finn said ‘This is very welcome funding. The commemorations committee on Cork City council is very keen to shine a light on history that went unheralded. For example, the work that the Wallace sisters did in their shop on St Augustine’s Street. It became a centre for the exchange of information and a central meeting place. As we build an inclusive future it is important to remember the role of all sorts of people. The divisiveness of the civil war should teach us that we all have a different lens on the world. It is important that we mature as a nation that can be inclusive of differing perspectives.
