ABSTRACT
On Easter Sunday 2006, the Rising went some way to reclaiming the primacy that it had once occupied in the canons of Irish heritage, culture and identity. Ninety eventful years had passed since the Irish Volunteers occupied the GPO, and the whole island of Ireland had changed beyond all recognition. As the Great War was accorded greater priority in the collective memory of the Republic of Ireland, the commemorative trajectory of the 1916 Rising took a new direction, as the notion of paying respect to the Easter Week rebels became acceptable once again. As the controversy over the President's Cork speech gradually abated in the run-up to Easter Sunday, politicians in the Dáil turned their attention to more mundane matters such as the logistics behind the preparations that were being put in place for the upcoming commemoration. The sealing of rubbish bins by Dublin City Council drew criticism, as it resulted in much littering.
