As a special tribute, the Central Bank has issued a limited-edition Yeats inspired €15 coin on 3 June while An Post will issue a new commemorative stamp on 11 June to honour the poet's 150th birthday.
Iarnród Éireann is also set to partner with Yeats 2015, displaying some of Yeats' best known and lesser known poetry on DART trains for the month of June. They are also hosting a poetry carriage on the 11:05hrs service from Connolly to Sligo on Yeats Day, with live readings, which certainly promises to liven up what would otherwise be a run of the mill train journey!
The 2015 Great Music in Irish Houses Festival promises to portray Yeats' influence on the musical world by offering audiences an array of vocal and instrumental works from the classical music tradition inspired by the poet.
A distinguished line-up of musicians from Ireland have been invited to perform, with four distinctly different performances taking place in historic venues in Dublin. In this context, the Dublin Musical Saunter takes place on 14 June at Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, The National Concert Hall, Dublin Writers Museum and The Chapel Royal at Dublin Castle. Also on 13 June, The Irish Film Institute will present Alan Gilsenan's special screening of, A Vision: A Life of WB Yeats.
There will also be a series of free lunchtime short film screenings across the month of June entitled Images of a Past Life: W. B. Yeats in Film.
In Galway, Coole Park will host a special fancy dress family day celebrating Yeats with Coole Harmonies Choir and uilleann piper Eugene Lamb. Coole Park was the home of dramatist and folklorist Lady Gregory, friend to Yeats, and was the centre of the Irish Literary Revival. William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, John Millington Synge and Sean O' Casey all came to experience its magic.
Yeats described it as the most beautiful place on earth and many of his great poems were written at or about Coole. On Sunday 14 June guided walks will be offered at 3pm through the magical landscape that Yeats loved so well and celebrated in his poetry.
National Cultural Institutions
National Cultural Institutions are also playing a significant role in the Yeats 2015 events.
From poetry readings at the National Gallery of Ireland, to talks on Yeats by the National Library and a unique event dedicated to Yeats planned for the National Concert Hall in September, there are a range of innovative and inspiring events taking place.
The National Library, of course, holds an award-winning permanent exhibition of the Life and Woks of Yeats. Since the opening of the exhibition in 2006, over a quarter of a million people of all ages and nationalities have delighted in this experience. Conclusion In conclusion, I wish to formally acknowledge the work carried out by the national steering committee for Yeats 2015, chaired by Senator Susan O'Keeffe, with involvement from key and noted people from the field of the Arts, Culture, Tourism and supporting industries. I also wish also to acknowledge the work of Mr. Ian Brannigan and his team at the Western Development Commission, who are administering the Yeats 2015 programme.
Minister Humphreys said: “The range of events is a fitting tribute to a great man who left a lasting mark on our cultural and national heritage: a poet, a politician, a man deeply born of and rooted within the very soil of this island, and a man in whose work we can all trace life's cycle, from the optimistic dreamer of youth through the trials of life to the realism of older age, with hope for the renewal of life. Yeats 2015—and the events planned in Ireland and around the world—will do a tremendous job in celebrating and commemorating the life, work, and achievements of W.B. Yeats, as well showcasing Ireland as a dynamic, creating and inspiring place.”