Kevin O'Keeffe TD giving the oration at the Republican Plot, at Kilcrumper Cemetery on Easter Sunday pictured with Liam McLaughlin (Chairman Fermoy Fianna Fail Cumann). (Picture: Catherine Sheehan)

Newly elected Fianna Fáil TD, Kevin O’Keeffe has strongly criticised attempts by ‘certain broadcasters to paint the leaders of 1916 in a negative light’ and accused the media outlets of representing the actions of the 1916 leaders as ‘needless’ and ‘driven by stupidity rather than bravery’.

Deputy O’Keeffe was speaking at the Easter Commemoration at the Republic Plot in the Old Kilcrumper Cemetery in Fermoy last Sunday, where he also denounced as ‘disgraceful and disrespectful’ the depiction of Éamon De Valera in the RTÉ drama series ‘Rebellion’.

In his keynote speech at the annual commemoration in Kilcrumper, where republicans such as Liam Lynch and Michael Fitzgerald are buried, he expressed his disappointment with the ‘outgoing government’s attempts to commercialise the century celebrations rather than letting us, the people, dictate the course they should take’.

He commented: “As a republican I take offence to certain broadcasters attempts to paint the leaders on 1916 in a negative light as if to say their actions were needless and driven by stupidity rather than bravery.

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