Speech at Kevin Barry Commemoration, Glasnevin Cemetery A Chairde, It is an honour to be here today at Glasnevin to mark the 94th anniversary of the execution of Kevin Barry. It is particularly significant to me to be present today as a representative of the Government to affirm that Kevin Barrys life and legacy is one that belongs to every Irish person. I want at the outset to thank the Chairman and the Board of the Glasnevin Trust for organising todays event and to thank the Defence forces for their participation. These are valuable partners in the Decade of Centenaries and I will be working closely with them, with my colleagues from other Government Departments and with many local community and voluntary groups. I am also glad to see Professor Eunan OHalpin here, a grand nephew of Kevin Barry and a distinguished member of our Expert Advisory Group on commemorations. Commemorating Kevin Barry gives us an opportunity to enter into discussion of Irish history with new communities and different traditions, so that we all may better understand how Ireland came to be the place it is today. Together we seek to explore our heritage and to appropriately remember the many significant events that took place in Ireland and events involving Irish men and women abroad in the most tumultuous decade in modern Irish history. There can be few better examples of this history than the short life and traumatic death of Kevin Barry. His legacy has been fought over, dissected, praised and criticised by political figures, historians, political activists and commentators for almost a century. It is perhaps only now that we are able to look with a mature eye on this young mans life and feel first and foremost the sense of loss – the loss of a bright future - the loss of a young life - a loss that was repeated millions of times around Europe a century ago, and we number Kevin Barry among the brightest of young Irish men lost to us over that period. We do well to remember him, and to seek to understand what he did, what happened to him and how his legacy has impacted our country and indeed further afield. Kevin Barry was a young man who sought to build a greater country, a true Republic and his name gained international recognition 94 years ago today. His involvement in the War of Independence was a part of what he considered to be a call to the world of Irelands desire to be sovereign and free. It is perhaps apt therefore that we use his legacy to demand from ourselves, from our own collective internal sense of humanity & justice to build a world where no young person will ever feel the necessity to take up arms, and that no government will ever will use the death penalty as a means of exacting punishment. In my Ministerial role I will work to provide educational initiatives and resources before, during and after the centenary of the Easter Rising, to place it in its proper historical context and to understand how ordinary people in Dublin, Ireland and around Europe suffered and persevered through these years. However in this period of national reflection it is not sufficient to merely recall past events. It is a requirement of us all to ask of ourselves how best we can build a society worthy of the approximately two hundred children who will be born in Ireland on this day, and who will inherit the Republic we will entrust onto them. We recall the past to give us strength for the present and to learn for the future. Many Irish people showed incredible courage at different times during that revolutionary period – of course soldiers and volunteers did so, and I take this opportunity to particularly acknowledge the members of our defence forces here today, who can be proud to serve in an organisation that works hard to hold and build peace around the world. That courage is also the courage of Cumann na mBan, whose founding was commemorated here in Glasnevin earlier this year. Its the courage of families, of pacifists, suffragists and of those who fought for justice in whatever field. I am glad that Kevin Barry and his comrades who lie beside him were afforded a dignified burial in 2001, so long after their deaths in Mountjoy. Im also glad to be here thirteen years later to reaffirm the States commitment to history – Kevin Barrys story is one that has been told in poetry, song and prose, and it is a story, in all its complexity, that deserves to be brought to life for new generations of Irish children, and for the new communities who have never heard it before. I hope that todays event will grow in the coming years and be joined by initiatives from parties, communities and local groups who will share the story of Kevin Barry and of Irish Independence. They will find willing partners in those of us here today. Thank you for being here. I ask you all to join me now in observing a minutes silence in honour of Kevin Barry. ift.tt/eA8V8J The Labour Party - Latest New
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 13:11:11 +0000
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