The men and women of 1916 would never have thought their sacrifice would be used “to score petty points or back up prejudiced behaviour”, former Ireland football international Niall Quinn has told a commemorative event.
Quinn, who earned an MA in history from Dublin City University having written his masters thesis about Oscar Traynor, gave the oration at the annual 1916 Relatives Association commemoration in the Garden of Remembrance on Saturday.
Traynor participated in the Easter Rising, the War of Independence and Civil War, and went on to become a long-serving minister in successive Fianna Fáil governments. He also spent 14 years as Football Association of Ireland (FAI) president.
Quinn scored 21 goals across 92 appearances for Ireland. On Saturday he criticised people who declaim with authority that “the men and women of 1916 didn’t die for this”.
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Too many people make up their own “self-serving versions” of the meaning of 1916 to suit their own agendas, he told those assembled.
“When people tell us with certainty that ‘this or that is definitely not what the men and women of 1916 fought or died for’, they do those men and women a great disservice,” he said.
“We can’t presume to know what they each dreamed of this Ireland of ours becoming .... The only thing we can draw from with certainty is their spirit.”
Those involved in the Easter Rising had “no single vision, no great unifying motivation other than to be free – to free the country from colonialism”, Quinn said.
If the Easter Rising happened today, it would be endlessly debated on X, with “the algorithms and the bullsh***ers” having a field day, he said.
“It’s impossible to imagine 1916 happening today. We’ve turned into a ‘where’s mine’ society. ‘What’s in it for me?’ Looking after number one.”
Quinn said he believes Italia 90 was a “turning point” in terms of Irish confidence on the national stage after decades of unemployment, recession and emigration.
“When it was over, even though it was just football, we felt more confident about ourselves. We believed in ourselves. By being good at what was once the banned garrison game, we began to feel that we were doing okay,” he said.
“Looking back it was all so innocent but I think the men and women of 1916, if they were watching, would have caught a glimpse of something they liked. A country happy in its own skin and confident taking its place in the modern world.”
Double Olympic champion Kellie Harrington read the Proclamation at the event and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Emma Blain, laid a wreath.
