We must learn from our past - Remembrance Day

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny and Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan represented the Republic yesterday at Remembrance Sunday events in Northern Ireland.

Mr Kenny laid a wreath at the War Memorial in Enniskillen before attending a service in Saint Macartin’s Cathedral while Mr Flanagan placed a laurel wreath at the Cenotaph in Belfast. Their presence at such events in the North would have been unthinkable a few years ago and there are still some Irish people who find their attendance disturbing and even offensive. Similarly, the presence of President Higgins yesterday at St Patrick’s Cathedral for a Remembrance Day service.

But those who cannot find the grace to honour our fellow nationals who died in both world wars should remember that more than 35,000 Irishmen in British uniform were slaughtered in the Great War alone.