The Government has not decided if an Easter Rising military parade will be held in Dublin's city centre next year. The commemoration is likely to be on a significantly smaller scale, writes Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent
A Government spokesman said last evening: "Following the success of the event it is intended that there will be an annual commemoration, the format and scale of which is something which we will reflect upon.
"In addition, we will begin to think about and plan for the centenary, which will be a more significant and broader commemoration."
The carefully chosen words leave the Government with the option of holding an annual military parade, or an expanded commemoration at Arbour Hill, where 14 of the 16 executed Easter Rising leaders are buried.
Last October Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, speaking at the Fianna Fáil ardfheis in Killarney, Co Kerry, said the annual parade, discontinued when the Northern Troubles began, would be held every year.
Though pleased with the turnout for Sunday's march, there is some doubt that a military parade on its own would be enough to attract significant crowds into Dublin city centre every year.
The turnout issue would be particularly acute in 2008, when Easter Sunday occurs on March 23rd, just one week after hundreds of thousands of people will attend the annual St Patrick's Day parade.
Green Party TD Éamon Ryan, a member of the all-party committee established to co-ordinate plans for celebrating the Rising's centenary in a decade's time, expressed doubts that a repeat of Sunday's parade would succeed.
"There was an interesting 'retro' feel to it, but that will fade away very quickly. It seems that the idea is going to be put on the shelf," the Dublin South TD said.
The all-party committee, which has met only once since the Government set it up, had not, he said, been consulted about the details of Sunday's march: "We briefly reviewed the plans for this year."
Fine Gael TD Billy Timmins, who expressed pleasure at the success of Sunday's march, said he was unsure if the Defence Forces could participate on a large scale annually, given the length of time needed for training.
He sharply criticised Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness for failing to take seats on the O'Connell Street reviewing stand.
The Afri (Action from Ireland) group organised an alternative 1916 parade outside the GPO in Dublin yesterday, and said the military parade was an inappropriate way to mark the 90th anniversary of the Rising.
The group said its event, titled a "Show of Strength", focused on those abandoned by the Government on trolleys in hospital corridors.