Details of centenary events in Northern Ireland released
- Published
Details of what organisations are planning to commemorate the Easter Rising, the Battle of the Somme and other centenary events are revealed.
A new statue of James Connolly, the reopening of HMS Caroline, and a series of exhibitions and parades are among events planned to mark centenaries taking place in 2016.
Details of what organisations are planning to commemorate the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme were revealed at an event in the Ulster Museum in Belfast.
2016 is arguably the biggest year in the 'decade of centenaries 1912-1922' in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
As well as the Rising and the Somme, the centenary of the most significant naval battle of World War One, the Battle of Jutland, falls on 31 May 2016.
HMS Caroline, the Belfast-based last surviving naval ship from the battle, will be formally reopened on that date.
A major commemoration of the role of the Irish sailor in the great war will also be held in the city.
Thursday's event was organised by the Nerve Centre's 'Creative Centenaries' project, which is planning a major exhibition in Belfast and Derry and a series of outreach events during 2016.
Exhibitions will also be held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and Belfast City Council, among others.
Other commemorations include:
Republican groups will unveil a new statue of James Connolly on the Falls Road, and a 'Belfast Rising Trail' with over 20 wall plaques at locations associated with Connolly, Bulmer Hobson, Winifred Carney and other Rising leaders in the city.
A cross-community music and theatre event organised by the Londonderry Bands Forum.
An online database of east Belfast soldiers who served during the war from the East Belfast and the Great War research project.
BBC Northern Ireland will also create multi-media seasons on the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme.
While nationalists and republicans have begun to commemorate World War One, Jason Burke, from the 'East Belfast and the Great War Research Project' said that he hoped unionists could become interested in the Rising.
"It can be applicable to the unionist community, as I think there are many different interpretations of what the Easter Rising was about," he said.
"We may well have a shared history, but we have a different memory of that history."
"I think unionism can, if not embrace it, engage with it in a critical manner."
Next year marks the centenary of the Easter Rising
Politicians, including the Sinn Fein junior minister Jennifer McCann and the Republic of Ireland's Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan TD, were also at Thursday's event.
It is thought unlikely that any members of the royal family will be at Rising centenary events in the Republic, and Mr Flanagan would not be drawn on whether Northern Ireland's first minister Peter Robinson would receive an invitation to the major commemoration in Dublin.
"I believe it's important that there is an opportunity for everyone to participate in what will be a series of events over 1916," he said.
"Our commemorations are inclusive, and we trust that there will be full participation."
"There will be an opportunity and an invitation for everybody to participate at that level."
Mr Flanagan also said that he wishes to attend the official event to commemorate the centenary of the Somme at the Thiepval Memorial in France on 1 July 2016.