Oliver Callan: A century on, we still can’t rule ourselves

We can’t bury Ireland’s present mediocrity in an avalanche of guff

A young child raises the tricolour during the proclamation day Pic: RollingNews.ie

The centenary doesn’t matter. It’s nice and pleasant for academics in elbow patches to be relevant for a while and hear Liam Neeson reading out history and children chatting about war in their innocent way.

The most significant effect is how the events of Easter 1916 are now attracting more attention than those of 2016. It’s troubling. If you stand back and consider it, the two Irelands a century apart have worrying similarities.