SCOTLAND is to play host to a series of commemorations to mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising which marked the beginning of the end of British rule in Ireland.

On Tuesday, a gathering of 40 people including singer Eddi Reader will met at the Irish Consulate in Edinburgh to launch the 1916 Rising Centenary Committee (Scotland) and

begin planning for next year's events which will feature music, theatre, poetry, lectures, workshops and publications.

The Easter Rising was an armed insurrection in Ireland in Easter Week on April 24, 1916 mounted by Irish republicans who wanted to end British rule.

The British army quickly suppressed the rebellion, leading to an unconditional surrender on Saturday April 29. Support for independence continued to increase until the 1918 general election when republicans won 73 out of the 105 seats.

The committee want to commemorate the contingent of Glasgow-based members of the Irish Volunteers, Cumann na mBan, an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation

and Na Fianna �ireann, the nationalist youth organisation who crossed to Ireland to participate in the 1916 Rising.

In particular, they want to highlight the key role played by James Connolly, the Edinburgh born commander-in-chief of the republican forces who was executed by a British firing

squad for his role in the Easter Rising.

A publication is being proposed to record the significant part played by the Glasgow based Irish Volunteers in the lead up to and during the Easter Rising.

There are plans to establish the whereabouts of the members of the contingent from Scotland, following the surrender and deportations to English prisons, before their

incarceration in Frongoch internment camp in Wales.

They also want to raise awareness of the 197 prisoners from the west of Ireland who were deported to Scotland and incarcerated in Barlinnie and Perth Prisons.

There are plans for seminars to educate the wider public about the key role of Irish revolutionaries in Scotland in the lead up to and during the Easter Rising.

They hope this will include support from sections of the Irish community, and some Scottish nationalists and socialists.

Willy Maley, professor of English literature at Glasgow University, who will chair Tuesday's launch, said an application has been made to the Irish Government to request funding

for some of the things the group wants to do.

Ireland's Consul General to Scotland Pat Bourne is expected to speak at Tuesday's two hour launch which will be attended by relatives of Scottish based participants in the

Easter Rising.

It will conclude with an exhibition of material related to the 1916 Easter Rising relating to Seamus Reader who played a part in organising support in Scotland for activists.

He is the grand-uncle of Eddi Reader who will present the exhibition.