TAOISEACH Micheál Martin has said it is important that next year's events to mark Northern Ireland's centenary are based on respect and enlightenment.
The Fianna Fáil leader was speaking after meeting with Boris Johnson yesterday at Hillsborough Castle where plans were discussed for next year's events to mark 100 years since the creation of the Northern Ireland state.
Mr Johnson also held talks with First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill at separate meetings.
Afterwards, the Sinn Féin deputy leader said a centenary marking the "partition of this island" was something nationalists and republicans would not be celebrating.
She said was the north was "built on sectarianism, gerrymandering and an inbuilt unionist majority".
"Partition failed this island and failed Britain – it not only divided our island but also our people and was devastating for our economy," she said.
"Any event or forum looking at the centenary of partition must include a reflective and honest conversation on partition, its failure and how we move in to a new decade."
The prime minister acknowledged that there would be "plenty of people" who did not wish to celebrate the north's centenary but said it was important to commemorate it.
"From my point of view it is something obviously to celebrate, because I love and believe in the union that makes up the United Kingdom, the most successful political partnership anywhere in the world but of course I appreciate there will be plenty of people who take a different point of view," he said.
"So what Micheál Martin and I agreed was that we need to look at this with the highest degree of academic rigour, we need to engage people in the study of the past and we learn to appreciate the spectrum of feeling and analysis about the events that made us all, and that's what we are going to do."
The prime minister has outlined plans to establish a centenary forum and a centenary historical advisory panel to mark 100 years since the north's foundation and the creation of the UK as currently constituted.
Mrs Foster said events next year could be held in an inclusive fashion that did not cause offence.
"I think it is an event for the whole of Northern Ireland, looking forward to the future, looking forward to our young people having a place in the world and that is what I want to see happening for our centenary plans," she said.
The taoiseach was later asked to respond to the Sinn Féin deputy leader's assertion that partition had failed.
"I've never been an advocate for partition all my life, and my party hasn’t either, but we have moved a long way from that," he said.
"That is what the Good Friday agreement was about – it was about transforming the narrative around the north-south relationship."
He said the centenary events needed to be respectful and enlightening.
"History for me is about enlightening the generations to come and current generations," he said.
"It's not about trying to prove a point – there will be different perspectives in relation to obviously the centenary commemoration of 1920 and 1921 in respect of the island of Ireland, both in the Republic we will be doing our centenaries and likewise in the north."
The taoiseach said he had told Mr Johnson that the model used to commemorate the various 1916 centenaries had proved successful.
"He accepts readily that different traditions will have a different perspective on these big events," he said.
