Plan for inclusive remembrance ceremony

Councils across the Six Counties are to be called upon to back a controversial new remembrance day for all those killed in conflict in the North.

The unprecedented and controversial move, to be brought before councils next week, follows the setting up of an “all-inclusive” Day of Reflection by Derry’s Sinn Féin Mayor Gearoid O’hEara.

The civic event, to be staged in Guildhall Square on December 10, will be open to all who lost loved ones, regardless of background, era, faith or circumstance.

Mr O’hEara urged: “I am asking people to make a judgement on the initiative based on its contents, not its author.”

Mr O’hEara said today that there would be no hierarchy of victims at his event.

He added: “I am conscious of the many victims of conflict and war, and their loved ones left behind, who are either overlooked by the existing, exclusive acts of remembrance or who are uncomfortable with aspects of them.

“I would also like to state that this event is not intended to replace any of the existing commemorations.”

The Mayor’s day will be a civic remembrance act, and will feature a plaque inscribed with the words: ‘In memory of all those who have lost their lives as a result of war and conflict from and in the city and district’.

* The London parliament’s “Northern Ireland Affairs Committee” has invited evidence on how the North could learn from the experiences of other conflict reconciliation processes.

The British government has already begun a unilateral consultation on how a South African-type ‘truth and reconciliation’ project could be initiated, a move which was greeted with derision in republican circles.

Urgent Appeal