Limerick ex-mayor opposes Great War memorial plan in city
A former mayor of Limerick has come out against a plan to erect a memorial to his uncle and all the other Limerick soldiers who died in the Great War.
Cllr John Gilligan’s uncle Lance Corporal Michael Gilligan was 21 when he died in the battle fields of Belgium, serving in the First Battalion Irish Guards.
As mayor of Limerick in 2009, Mr Gilligan took a strong stance against gang crime in the city and led a huge march to denounce the murder of businessman Roy Collins.
Opposing the plans for a second war memorial in the city, he said: “Kipling who lost a son in World War I knew what happened, writing: ‘When they question why we died, tell them because our fathers lied’.
He said the time for memorials had long since gone, and the best way to honour the fallen dead is through silent remembrance.
Limerick Civic Trust wants to erect a shrine in the People’s Park to the Limerick soldiers who died in the Great War.
The memorial is to consist of a four-metre high stone central cross with stone tablets bearing the names of the soldiers.
However, Mr Gilligan said the park should remain “an oasis of peace”.
He said a memorial to all the Limerick soldiers who died in both world wars stands in Pery Square, near the entrance to the People’s Park, and this was fitting enough tribute.
Meanwhile, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is treating the desecration of wreaths at the site of the IRA murder of 18 soldiers as a hate crime amid reports that football fans were to blame.
Poppy wreaths, crosses, and written tributes were vandalised at Narrow Water, near Warrenpoint in Co Down, where a British Army convoy was ambushed by two roadside bombs in 1979.
Belfast-based Cliftonville Football Club said it was aware of reports that some people returning from Saturday’s fixture against Warrenpoint Town were responsible. The club condemned the incident as “pathetic” and made clear that the perpetrators were not an official or affiliated supporters’ club.
The club said it would cooperate fully with the PSNI investigation.
