Today I attended, on the invitation of John Kennedy, the Annual Wreath Laying Ceremony at Islandbridge, hosted by the Royal British Legion Ireland on the Saturday nearest July 11th, prior to Ireland’s National Day of Commemoration.

The ceremony was open to the public.

Minister of State at D/Taoiseach, Mr Paul Kehoe TD with participating Mayors at WW1 commemoration

The Islandbridge memorial garden has a fascinating history: Following a meeting of over one hundred representatives from all parts of Ireland, held in Dublin on 17th July 1919, it was agreed that there should be a permanent Memorial to commemorate all those Irish men and women killed in the First World War and a Memorial Committee was appointed to raise funds to further this aim.

A number of schemes were suggested including a Memorial centre-piece in Merrion Square but all were found to be impractical or inconsistent with legal obligations.

The matter had arrived at an impasse, until, in 1929, the Irish Government suggested that a memorial Park be laid out on a site known as Longmeadows on the banks of the Liffey.

The scheme embodied the idea of a public park, to be laid out at Government expense, which would include a Garden of Remembrance and War Memorial to be paid for from the funds of the Memorial Committee.

Construction of the linear parkway, about 60 hectares in extent stretching from Islandbridge to Chapelizod, began in 1931 and took about two years to complete. The Memorial Gardens were laid out between 1933 and 1939. The workforce for the project was formed of fifty percent of ex-British Army servicemen and fifty percent of ex-servicemen from the Irish National Army.

Myself, George McCullough, Philip Orr and John Green at Islandbridge