Sir, – During a recent Seanad Éireann debate on the 1916 centenary, members referred to the "radical" nature of the Proclamation, Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú in particular quoting the "cherishing all the children of the nation" phrase ("Ó Murchú warns against politically divisive debate on 1916 commemoration", Seanad Report, October 16th).
The social-radical aspect of the Proclamation should not be exaggerated. The chief emphasis (as one would expect from an IRB manifesto) was on independence and sovereignty. Guaranteeing citizens’ liberties, and “equal rights and equal opportunities”, takes up only a line or two, and there is no mention of a social programme, still less a cultural one.
In this respect, the Proclamation is sometimes confused with the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil in 1919, which is the real children’s charter and which should be credited with articulating, in some detail, the aspiration to human rights and social justice in revolutionary Ireland.
Moreover, it is clear from the context of the Proclamation that the oft-quoted (but widely misunderstood) phrase, “cherishing all the children of the nation equally ”, has nothing to do with justice for the young or social equality but rather with bridging the historic divide between Protestant and Catholic, planter and Gael, unionist and nationalist. – Yours, etc,
JOHN A MURPHY,
Emeritus Professor
of Irish History,
University College Cork.