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Education Minister Norma Foley pictured alongside Brigadier General Gerard Buckley (to her immediate right), originally from Valentia Island, who is now Ireland’s military representative to the European Union, at the 25th anniversary commemoration of the Island of Ireland Peace Park. Kevin Conmy, the Irish ambassador to Belgium on the minister’s immediate left.
MINISTER for Education and Kerry Fianna Fáil TD, Norma Foley, represented the Irish Government at an event in Belgium at the weekend to mark the 25th anniversary of the Island of Ireland Peace Park.
Minister Foley said that the spirit of peace is needed “more than ever today” at the ceremony in Messines in Belgium last Saturday.
The Peace Park was opened in 1998 as a permanent memorial to the 200,000 Irishmen from north and south who fought in World War One.
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Education Minister Norma Foley said it was a very great honour to represent the Government at the event.
“We are mindful that vision and spirit of peace and reconciliation is needed more than ever in our world today,” she said.
The peace tower in the Peace Park was built in the likeness of an Irish round tower over two years by apprentices from north and south. it contains stones from every county in the island.
At the event in the Island of Ireland Peace Park on Saturday were the Very Reverend Dr Rob Craig (Presbyterian Church in Ireland), the Very Reverend Dr Rob Craig (Presbyterian Church in Ireland), Education Minister Norma Foley, Archbishop Eamon Martin, (the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland), and Reverend David Turtle (the President of the Methodist Church in Ireland)
President Mary McAleese officially opened the Peace Park in 1998 in the presence of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Albert II, the King of Belgium.
Foley paid tribute to the late Paddy Harte, a prominent Irish politician and the late Glen Barr, a leading loyalist, for their role in creating the peace park.
“The Island of Island Peace Park was inspired by Paddy Harte, a former Irish politician, who had been asked by an elderly neighbour to find the grave of his brother who had died in World War One.
Education Minister Norma Foley with the Mayor of Messines, Sandy Evrard and the Irish Ambassador to Belgium Kevin Conmy.
“He fulfilled that promise by discovering the grave of Henry Taylor, a 21-year old man from Lifford in Donegal, during a private visit to the battlefields. And he worked tirelessly with Glen Barr, a prominent loyalist leader, to develop the Peace Park in memory of fallen soldiers like Henry Taylor from across the Island of Ireland.
“The presence of representatives of Ireland, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, on the 25th Anniversary of the inauguration of the Peace Park, attests to the power of this place to continue to inspire us all to strive for peace and reconciliation.”
The ceremony was attended by four Church leaders on the island of Ireland – Archbishop Eamon Martin, (the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland), Archbishop John McDonnell (The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland), the Very Reverend Dr Rob Craig (Presbyterian Church in Ireland) and Reverend David Turtle (the President of the Methodist Church in Ireland).
At the 25th anniversary ceremony in the Peace Park, relatives of the founders of the Peace Park, Paddy Harte and Glen Barr, read aloud the Peace Pledge – first unveiled at the 1998 opening of the Peace Park.
Twelve young people from Northern Ireland, Ireland, England, Wales, Ukraine, Germany, Australia and New Zealand joined them to read a new Peace Pledge, renewing the spirit of reconciliation across generations.
The Peace Park is located close to the site of the June 1917 battle of Messines Ridge, during which the 16th (Irish) Division fought alongside the 36th (Ulster) Division.
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