“As mayor of Donegal I’m erecting a monument to four people who perished needlessly, senselessly”

According to the BBC, there’s a row brewing over plans to erect a monument to those who died in a bomb which killed Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, in Mullaghmore, Co Sligo. The Mayor of Donegal, Fianna Fail man explains the thinking behind such a memorial…

Thirty years have passed and this country has undergone a massive transformation for the better. It is now time to move forward,” the mayor said. “I feel that it is now time that, as a people, we do something to commemorate what was a travesty of history with the murder of these innocent people like so many others on both sides.

“The people of this island north and south have a greater maturity now and stemming from that we now have the confidence to commemorate this tragic event by erecting a suitable commemorative feature,” Mr Byrne said.

“As a council, we would require permission from all the relatives of those involved to proceed with this. Should this be forthcoming we would take the views of all the families on board and commission a suitable commemorative feature.Ideally, I would like to see this overlooking Donegal Bay where this fateful event took place.”

Although Mullaghmore is in Sligo, as I recall, having been there at the time, the shock waves of that event where pretty strongly felt in Donegal30 years ago. Although that’s not the nature of Sinn Fein’s criticism of the project. The Irish Times also reports:

Sinn Féin councillor Padraig MacLochlainn said if the council put up a monument, it should be “mindful that well over 3,000 people from all sides lost their lives in the conflict. It would be wrong to erect a monument in relation to any one incident – it should be for all those who lost their lives if the objective is to achieve peace and reconciliation”.

Mick Fealty

Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty