People of Ireland, we love you.
RTE has rightly received plenty of kudos for the Reflecting the Rising event on Easter Monday, a multi-location event spanning the historic sites of Easter week that included music, debates, public talks and much more and was an unqualified success.
On what really was a great weekend to be Irish, people turned out in their droves in Dublin city and that’s putting it lightly.
According to RTE, the official attendance for Reflecting the Rising was in excess of 700,000 people, making it the biggest cultural & historical gathering in the history of the state and the second biggest public gathering in Irish history, second only to the visit of Pope John Paul in 1979.
Clip via bridgetoofar2
To put that into context, numerous sources say that approximately 500,000 people attended another of the largest public gatherings that comes to mind, the Irish soccer team being welcomed home following their exploits at Italia ’90.
And look at how big the crowds were for that…
Clip via CuChoileain
Commenting on the event, a spokesperson for RTE said: “RTÉ Reflecting the Rising, in partnership with Ireland 2016, created an event which was ambitious in both scale and vision, delivering a diverse programme of activities and cultural experiences across the city, and we are delighted that so many people shared the day with us.
“All ages and generations came out to celebrate and remember together, and thousands more joined us both at home and abroad on our broadcast services throughout the day.”
Fair play to all involved on a fantastic event.
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