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THE TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny and the British Prime Minister David Cameron will both visit a number of First World War graves and memorials in Flanders in Belgium this morning.
Both Government heads are in Belgium to attend an EU Council meeting which is being held in Brussels today also.
World War I
Both leaders will pay their respects to those who gave their lives in World War I and is meant to represents another key milestone in the deepening of British-Irish relations. The visit takes place as part of the decade of centenary commemorations of key events between 2012 and 2022.
Kenny and Cameron will visit a number of locations where soldiers in British uniform, including many Irish soldiers, fought and died. Both leaders will place wreaths at the grave of Willie Redmond. He was a nationalist politician and Member of Parliament in the Irish Parliamentary party.
He was commissioned as a captain in the Royal Irish Regiment, with whom he served 33 years. He went to France on the Western Front with the 16th (Irish) Division in the winter of 1915-16.
Memorial
Redmond requested his remains be buried outside the walls of the British military cemetery at Locre. The request was a direct response to the execution of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916.
The visit will also include the Island of Ireland Peace Park at Messines which is a memorial to the 50,000 Irish who died, the village of Wytschaete where the 16th (Dublin) and 36th (Ulster) divisions advanced together and fell in the attack on Messines Ridge and the Menin Gate Memorial which is dedicated to British and commonwealth soldiers whose graves are unknown.
They will also visit the Tyne Cot Cemetery which is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world for any war.
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Respect… Nothing more or less. Many long dead men lie there in peace at last.
As I have said before, Who Cares.War is war Bang Bang Your Dead!
Kenny should visit a few soup kitchens and see how his austerity is hurting the living.
It’s not just people on the dole that need food. You should go to one yourself might open your eyes
This is how respect for Irish dead in the a World Wars should be; war specific. Rather than Poppy wearing.
…and no taking selfies now lads.
Amazing read on Irish who fought, A Coward if I live, a Hero if I die by Neil Richardson, good honest appraisal of the people and issues of the time, survivor interviews and the treatment when they returned are truly astounding. buy it.
Why is there not as big a push to commemorate the 200,000+ Irishmen who fought in the American Civil War? WW1 commemorations seems to involve greater efforts simply because Britain was involved
Good question, Myles Dungan’s Distant Drums is a good read on Irish in foreign wars & covers the American Civil War quite well.
Martin, for what purpose? Go to any civil war site and you will see that all who fought are memorialized and commemorated.
Of course there is. Please do not forget the fighting 69th union army. 99% Irish that fought in the civil war.
It that is the case, what about all the Irish men that fought along side the Aussies and New Zealanders during WW1 and don’t forget the Irish that fought in the Canadian battalions.
@Declan, where are the memorials in Ireland?
The Irish who fought in the American Civil War are well remembered and celebrated by both Irish and Irish-American’s. They are celebrated because their deeds (especially the Irish Brigades assault on Marye’s heights at Fredericksburg in 1862) did so much to change the anti Irish attitude that existed in the US at the time.
Enda is an all time great….
Jesus, they’re certainly committing to the theme! I hope the other EU leaders don’t have everything agreed before they get back to Brussels.
Hardly make any difference if Kenny’s there or not. Whatever happens he’ll just agree with them and receive the pat on the head for being a good boy and exiting the bailout.
Why are there so many negative Nancy’s who don’t have a clue how finance even works, maybe only on a very fundamental level, come here and moan about our leaders! You do realise this mess we are in is not their fault but mainly that of the US stock markets being greedy and loading us with credit we didn’t need, that and the Irish property bubble. The government have done a good job punching far above our weight. Our economy is stable. Look around Europe, Ireland, the UK, France and Germany are leading the way.
Is bee shop what the FG press office are calling themselves this week.
Inspirational leadership by the great Enda :)
Probably turn in their graves.
Another British Army recruiting stunt from our westbrit Tee-shuck
I wish them both much bad weather.
I respect David Cameron 100% but definitely not Kenny.
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