D’oh!
The year after next will mark the 100th anniversary of one of the most pivotal events in Irish history, the 1916 Rising, and in an attempt to get a head start on the commemorations, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht have established an Ireland 2016 centenary programme, which was launched at the GPO last night.
As part of the launch, a video clocking in at just under a minute and a half was released on ireland.ie, reflecting on the last 100 years of Irish history and focusing on five major themes: Remember, Reconcile, Imagine, Present and Celebrate.
There was one major problem, however; the video doesn’t actually mention the 1916 Rising itself, or at least it didn’t until an updated video (see below) appeared online that includes a brief shot of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic at the very start.
Inevitably, the video didn’t garner a favourable reaction and some of the comments about it on Twitter last night were withering to say the least.
https://twitter.com/ReadaCronin/status/533160270827634688
https://twitter.com/DubhNoir/status/533112573692878848
Turns out 1916 was actually about the Queen, Cameron, Facebook, Google, Twitter… An insight into establishment minds. #irelandinspires
— Paul Murphy 🏳️⚧️ (@paulmurphy_TD) November 12, 2014
If the #irelandinspires video is the teaser… Ní maith. A rehashed Gathering video. Why is @ireland2016 so afraid of acknowledging 1916?
— Marcus Ó Buachalla (@ohfadabee) November 13, 2014
If that wasn’t enough, the official Ireland 2016 website has also come under fire for allegedly using Google Translate to translate Irish text, including an excerpt from the Proclamation, text was full of grammatical and punctuation errors that the Department claim have since been addressed.
Any chance you want to start all over again lads?
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