how do the political parties lay claim to the 1916 legacy?

Fianna Fáil » More
Fianna Fáil has always seen itself as a party that embodies the spirit of 1916. The party was founded in 1926, 10 years after the Rising, and went on to become the most powerful democratic movement in the history of independent Ireland.

Fine Gael » More
Fine Gael, which was founded in 1933, has a strong association with 1916, but the party has always claimed a wider ancestry. It is linked to 1916 through Michael Collins and WT Cosgrave, but is also has connections with the non-violent Sinn Féin of Arthur Griffith and the Irish Parliamentary Party of John Redmond and John Dillon.

Labour » More
The Labour Party predates the Rising but had a significant connection with it. The party was founded in Clonmel in 1912 as the political wing of the trade union movement. From the beginning it was torn by the national question, as the union movement represented Protestant workers in the North, who believed in the union with Britain, as well as nationalist workers in the South.

Sinn Féin » More
Sinn Féin sees itself as the only true inheritor of the 1916 tradition. At the party's recent ard fheis the party president, Gerry Adams, rejected the claim that the party was attempting to hijack the forthcoming 1916 commemoration.

Progressive Democrats » More
Despite being the newest party in the Dáil, having only been founded in 1985, the Progressive Democrats have a link to 1916. Two of the party’s founders, Des O’Malley and Mary Harney, came from the Fianna Fáil tradition while the third, Michael McDowell, came from Fine Gael.