2016 has been a year of significant centenaries. It is appropriate that as Honorary President of the Somme Association, I should be here in Ireland commemorating this historic year.

Just over a hundred years ago it was quite normal to assume that civilisation was advancing at such a pace, industrialisation meant greatly increased production in many fields, and advances in Sciences and medicine reduced the risks of famine and pestilence and the fear of natural disasters.

The Royal Navy patrolled the high seas enforcing a Pax Brittanica that protected world trade, and frequently, discouraged other countries from going to war with each other.

Naively, assumptions were made that no one would want to rock the boat and threaten this unparalleled period of peace and prosperity and only mad men would want to risk bringing it to an end.

But yet, in 1914, the mad men prevailed and everyone in Great Britain had to make a decision on where they stood on the matter of principle as to whether military might should be the finial arbiter of conflicts.

A very large proportion of the British Population on both sides of the Irish Sea volunteered to resist this aggression. Many no doubt hoping it would prove to be an easy task.

Of course it took a long time to equip and train the millions of new recruits and by the time they arrived in France, they found the very static lines of the Western Front, where the German Army had been stopped from capturing Paris.

Industrialisation had transformed warfare into the hell of barrage-induced mud and barbed wired inflexibility. Machine guns and mortars reduced the battlefield to a lethal lottery, where courage would be suicidal and triumphs rare.

The Battle of the Somme destroyed the optimism of winning a short war, when we found that German trenches were built to last and not intended to be temporary like our own. It turned out to be a heart breaking war of attrition.

The reason that we are here today is because of the exceptional contribution of the Irish Brigades, the considerable capabilities they exhibited, and the loyalty to the cause that brought them there.

Reading the accounts of the Irish VCs awarded, one marvels that ordinary mortals should have the strength of purpose in carrying out tasks well beyond their duty. And the inevitability that such a high proportion were awarded posthumously.

If you believe the ‘Blackadder’ school of history, the Army was that of ‘Lions led by Donkeys’. But a fairer analysis shows that we learnt more and faster than our enemies and, consequently by 1918 we had the best army, best trained, best equipped of all the protagonists – even if like everyone, exhausted from the effort, and greatly relieved by Germany’s Surrender.

The Somme Association exists to demonstrate to todays generation, that what their grandfathers and great grandfathers did, leaves us a legacy we should be proud of and grateful for in equal measures.

We all hope we will never be tested as they were then, and the implication is that it would be an unwise move to try and see if our resolve is any less then theirs.

What happened in the past can not be altered but it is important to choose the lessons you want to learn most from. Ireland has a long and fascinating history that tends to resonate down the generations.

The Somme Association believes in spotlighting this particular moment in Irish history. A time when many were tested for their courage and integrity and passed with flying colours. It is a lesson for future generations and the hopes for their progress in peace and prosperity.

My wife and I are very pleased to be invited to share this centenary commemoration in your splendid City Hall on a day that has proved more historic than many people expected.