On the 30th of April, a Flanders Memorial Garden to the fallen Irishmen who died in Flanders during WO I, has been inaugurated in the city of Dublin, Ireland (at the Christ Church Cathedral). The Flanders Fields Memorial Garden is a tribute to more than 49,000 Irishmen who died in the conflict, but also a place of hope, peace, reconciliation, and reflection.
During the ceremony, soil from Flanders was buried with soil from the four provinces of Ireland, and placed within a circle of Leinster granite which reflects the circular design in the roof of the Menin Gate in Ypres.
The opening was presided by Dublin Lord Mayor Nial Ring and Jan Peumans, speaker of the parliament of Flanders and attended by Nic Van der Marliere, General Representative in the UK and Ireland, Helen McEntee, the Irish Minister of European Affairs and acting Secretary-General Freddy Evens and Pierre-Emmanuel de Bauw, Ambassador of Belgium to Ireland.
General Representative Nic Van der Marliere, said there was a contemporary message in the memorial, noting that governments now take some rights and freedoms for granted. “The First World War may be a hundred years behind us, but the inalienability of the rights of all human beings, respect for freedom and democracy, are as relevant today as they were then.”
In future, the memorial will be covered with a grass sward and engraved with poetry by Francis Ledwidge, a Co Meath-born poet and soldier, who died in 1917 at the battle of Passchendaele.
This ceremony was the last commemorative event in the series of '100th anniversary of the first World War' 2014-18.
General Representation of the Government of Flanders in the UK