The Northern Ireland Executive is fully committed to repealing the Northern Ireland Centennial Commission Act 2019 and has already outlined plans to that effect within the Programme for Government released recently. Legislation to achieve this goal has been submitted.

This decision is being undertaken for a variety of reasons. One of the most important reasons is to ensure that remembrance is undertaken in an appropriate manner which affords respect to the various positions and perspectives in our communities. This is the basis of parity of esteem and the existing law did not meet this standard. As a consequence of the repeal of course, the public can expect to see approximately £20 million since we estimate that about £30 million would have already been spent on activities authorised by this Act.

The Programme for Government calls for these savings to be re-invested appropriately. As the Minister for Communities, I shall take the time to explain the way this Executive intends to appropriate these funds.

The Department for Communities will be financing a renewed effort to support the “Decade of Centenaries” heritage programme adopted in 2011, with some new enhancements. This programme focuses on discovering, explaining, and exploring wide ranging social events and stories that occurred from 1912 to 1923 to the public, from the centenary of the Ulster Covenant to the Partition of the island of Ireland. There is a focus on collecting history and making it publicly available in an inclusive manner. Given the wide-ranging perspective, such an approach is only right. Many of the centenaries proper have already passed of course but the programme is not yet complete.

Following this programme, the Department for Communities will assign the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) to take a lead here. PRONI will work with civil society, universities across these isles, the Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh, and both the Irish and British National Archives to focus on story-telling from this era. We aim to co-operate with relevant political authorities here as well, especially the Irish Government’s Department of Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht given the need for cross-border co-operation in truly capturing the essence of these stories. Much of the archival work will need to be done on that basis as materials lie in a variety of institutions across this island, and the Irish Government has also outlined its own plan to work with the Northern Ireland Executive on recognising the “Decade of Centenaries” through funding cross-border events.

Activities will range from seeking out oral histories and recordings of personal stories from members of the public to publicising certain writings and other primary source materials. This work will attempt to capture the wide range of perspectives here by including those from nationalists and unionists on both sides of the border, but there will be a particular focus on sharing the experiences and stories from the perspectives of women, the Irish Traveller community, citizens of border communities, trade unionists, and those within diaspora communities. Many of the people within these groups have a vital place in any history of an era defined by social change and have too often been forgotten. The new oral history work from descendants will be of particular importance and can be properly facilitated with the funding, making it one of the largest oral history efforts in our history.

Some of the major documents of the time that PRONI will digitise will include relevant news clippings, personal journal writings, and art. They will also include a full digitisation of public records relating to Partition, as this is the main historical event we are yet to pass. In particular, the roundtable led by PRONI will be tasked with digitising meeting minutes from the Boundary Commission in co-operation with the Irish Government as this has been an area of identified joint interest.

At heart, this Executive’s goal will be to make exploring our past, heritage, and common stories more easy for not only those around now, but for those generations to come. We believe this is the right way to go about it.

u/SoSaturnistic - Minister for Communities