One of the last remaining participants in the War of Independence yesterday recalled the "wild rumours" about the scale of the "trouble in Dublin" at the time of the Easter Rising.
Lieut Col Seán Clancy (104) said there were exaggerated reports circulating in his native Co Clare about the extent of the casualties in the city - and the damage to its buildings.
Eventually, the news of the events reached elsewhere in the country, prompting many of his neighbours to sympathise with those behind the Rising.
"I remember my parents sent me to Limerick city to do some bit of shopping . . . there were all kinds of rumours going around, about trouble in Dublin and nobody had any good information about it. So several of the neighbours accosted me on the way in and asked me to bring the morning papers [ from Limerick]," he told The Irish Times yesterday.
"I went around to several, three, four, five, newspaper shops and of course nobody had the Dublin papers . . . there were all kinds of wild rumours about hundreds of thousands being killed, and that Dublin was blown to bits and so on.
"Nobody appeared to have the correct information . . . It was only toward the weekend we began to get a correct account what was happening."
Following the executions of those involved in the Rising, there were "lovely songs composed and sang at roadsides and in little halls and everything else around the country, all praising the ones that took part and so on", he said. "It was a reaction.There were companies of volunteers in every parish."
Lieut Col Clancy, who went on to serve in the Defence Forces for almost 40 years, is among those due to review this weekend's parade. He will also be attending that evening's reception in Dublin Castle.
He was speaking at the launch of a commemorative edition of the Defence Forces' magazine, An Cosantóir, at McKee barracks in Dublin yesterday.
The launch, by Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea, was attended by former taoisigh Liam Cosgrave and Dr Garret FitzGerald, as well as the Defence Forces' chief-of-staff, Lieut Gen Jim Sreenan, and other dignitaries.
Mr Cosgrave welcomed the decision to reinstate the parade, which, he said, paid "tribute to the sacrifices" of those involved.
Mr O'Dea said after the event that the upcoming commemoration had not become a "political football". Instead, he said, it had been an all-party effort.
He added that the members of the committee which will plan the centenary celebrations had "by and large" been selected.
He was hoping to appoint a chair and vice-chair soon, and not all of the members would be politicians.
The possibility of disturbances at this weekend's parade, similar to those witnessed at the recent Dublin riots, was "quite remote", he said. However, contingency plans were in place for what is to become an annual event.