Joint Island of Ireland War Memorial at Messines in Belgium
The Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern T.D., announced this evening, (Saturday, 8 November 1997.) that "following a meeting I had last week with members of the Journey of Reconciliation Trust, including Mr. Glen Barr and Mr. Paddy Harte, the Government have agreed to provide £150,000 for the Soldiers' and Sailors' Trust to support the erection of an Island of Ireland First World War Memorial in Messines in Belgium, commemorating the sacrifices of the 36th Ulster Division and the 16th Irish Division in June 1917. I warmly commend the Trust on their initiative.
The intention is to build over the next 10 months a round tower and a park, symbolising four provinces. The sunlight will enter the tower on the model of Newgrange at 11am on 11th November (Armistice Day). Details of the project are attached.
The memorial will not only remember the sacrifices of those from all parts of Ireland and from all political and religious traditions who fought and fell in the war, it will also serve as a powerful symbol of reconciliation in the present day. I hope it will attract the visits of many groups from all parts of Ireland. The memorial with its fitting symbolism will be a further step that builds on the restoration of the fine War Memorial Park in Inchicore in Dublin.
At this distance in time, we must be able to transcend the political controversies and divisions of the past and remember our common humanity. In the Ireland of the future there needs to be room for the contribution of all traditions and recognition that there are many different ways in which fine people try to serve their country. We must also accept that, even if the nation as a whole subsequently supported a different approach based on a policy of honourable neutrality, this does not in any way detract from or lessen the regard we should have for those who decided, either with the encouragement of the constitutional nationalist leadership of the time or on their own initiative, to volunteer to serve with the Allied Forces in causes, where issues of great gravity were undoubtedly at stake.
On the eve of Armistice Sunday, as Head of the Irish Government, I pay tribute to the soldiers from all parts of Ireland who fought and in some cases died in two world wars. But on this, the tenth anniversary of the Enniskillen bombing, the best way of remembering them and, indeed, all those Irish people who have suffered as a result of violence, is to ensure that such tragedies, on whatever scale, are never allowed to happen again, and to put all thought of conflict behind us in our own country."
The design attempts to form on the site, ideas and features representative of the entire island, without being denominational, or particular to one community.
1. A Round Tower as a physical structure, is almost unique to Ireland. It is acceptable to all traditions, being current from 750 - 1000 A.D. This will form the centre-point of the Park, around which the other features will relate.
2. At Newgrange, Co. Meath, the sun enters the burial chamber at dawn on mid-winter day.The Tower will be positioned so that the sun will shine down the site axis, and enter an opening in the Tower at 11.00 on 11 November. [The exact hour of the Armistice in 1918].
3. Four areas, symbolic of each of the provinces, will be treated in landscape terms, so as to represent various parts of the island. Each area could have seating, sculpture, plants, water, etc.
4 The island of Ireland, laid out as a map, could be depicted as a paved area, surrounded by gravel.
5 Trees and shrubs, native to Ireland, can be planted throughout the Park. Oak trees will be used in the vicinity of the Tower.
6. A pathway linking the Park to the nearby New Zealand monument, would symbolically link the Northern and Southern hemispheres, in conjunction with the linking of the various traditions in Ireland.
7. The authorities of the Commune de Messines wish to promote their town as a Place of Peace. This development would significantly boost their infra-structural resources, and create a greater total effect than would be achieved by locating the Park in another place.In recognition of this, they will participate in the routine maintenance. This will permit the use of grass and hedging as landscape materials, rather than a hard, maintenance-free surface.
8 November 1997