A centrepiece of Ireland 2016's 'Centenary Conversations' will see a major three day conference at NUI Galway in november. 

Entitled 'Ireland 1916-2016: The Promise and Challenge of National Sovereignty', the three day event runs from Thursday 10 November to Saturday 12 November and represents an historic and ambitious gathering of some of the country's best minds, gathered together to examine and advance understanding of what Irish independence really means.

The conference will facilitate an intensive exploration of two connected themes:

• The vision and aspiration invested in an independent Irish state by idealists and thinkers of the revolutionary generation.

• The challenges facing the Irish sovereign State in 2016 and the visions and horizons of ambition that should inspire the Irish people as they face the future.

A number of key sub-themes will provide the platform for this high-level inquisition of Ireland’s prospects, all the while linking the discussion to the ideas and ideals espoused by the revolutionary generation.

The conference will comprise plenary sessions, each with a keynote speaker and a panel of respondents.

Plenary speakers include Seán Ó Foghlú, Secretary General of the Department of Education & Skills; Philip Pettit, L.S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values at Princeton University; An Taoiseach Enda Kenny;Roy Foster, Carroll Professor of Irish History at Hertford College, Oxford; Heather Humphreys T.D., Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and many more. 

Click here to register for the conference.