A New Ireland Rising - inspiring video

Take a look at this inspiring video which shows how much has changed in Ireland over the last 100 years – and how much work is still to be done.
The film is called ‘A New Ireland Rising’ and the starting point is at the Easter Rising, which reached its 100 year anniversary in 2016.
The Easter Rising was a key turning point in Ireland’s journey to independence from the British – one of the most important events in Ireland’s history.

However, this film starts by focussing on many aspects of Irish life that have gone wrong since Ireland gained its independence.
The video is by Irish film maker Ruairí McKiernan. McKiernan appears in the video and gives a very moving speech about the problems Ireland faces today.
He speaks about how today’s Ireland is not what the Easter Rising leaders would have envisioned. The proclamation envisaged a land of religious and civil liberty. However, McKiernan argues that after gaining independence, Ireland came to exchange one ruling elite for another.
He said that just one belief system helped to shape Ireland’s constitution and identity. He also said that our leaders ‘sacrificed us to financial institutions and faceless corporations’.
He mentions more key events that have characterised Ireland over the century such as the civil war, the partition of the island, the Troubles and mass youth emigration.
He discusses social problems that see one in eight children living in poverty and many elderly people feeling lonely and isolated.
He says that Ireland’s suicide rates and rising anxiety levels are a stark contrast to the happy country that was the vision of the Rising leaders.
In the second half of the video McKiernan is more upbeat. He talks about Ireland’s triumphs of the last century. Ireland has shone brightly in many areas such as literature, music, sport, science, medicine, business and technology.
He discusses the country’s humanitarianism and speaks passionately about how a new Ireland is emerging.
It is an ‘opportunity to re-imagine who we want to be’.
McKiernan says: “It is a time to be our own heroes and believe that this small beautiful Atlantic nation can be everything we dreamed it to be.”
He goes on to raise several issues about where Ireland can improve in the future saying: “We stand at the threshold of magnificent possibility.”
It is a deeply moving and inspiring video which will both fill viewers with Irish pride and motivate them to think about how they want the country to move forward in the next century.
Take a look at the video below.

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