Taoiseach wants Leinster House monument to John Redmond

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said he wants to put a monument to John Redmond in Leinster House. He has written to his Fine Gael predecessor John Bruton stating that it was now "timely to consider the introduction of a monument or memorial to John Redmond in the Oireachtas".

He intends to consult with the “relevant authorities” to ensure it goes ahead.

Mr Bruton said he was “very glad” that the Taoiseach had agreed it was time to remedy a “100-year omission”.

Mr Bruton wrote to the Government recently urging it to commemorate Redmond’s work and particularly the Third Home Rule Bill which was given royal assent 100 years ago yesterday.

He said there was a statue to Redmond in the houses of parliament in London but not in Leinster House. "There will at last be a recognition of the Irish Parliamentary Party's work and that of John Redmond and John Dillon [his deputy] and not just as some dismissive afterthought, but on the level with all the others. I'm very appreciative of the Taoiseach's response."

Irish soldiers

Redmond, who was the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 until his death in 1918, remains a controversial figure in Irish history. Many blame him for the deaths of thousands of Irish soldiers in the first World War following his Woodenbridge speech which occurred 100 years ago this week in which he urged Irish Volunteers to join the British war effort. There are also those who believe that the measure of home rule which

Ireland

was offered in 1914 was a great deal less than the independence achieved in 1921.

Mr Bruton acknowledged there were others within Fine Gael who would take a different view on the issue, and that Mr Kenny would also have to get agreement from other parties.

He said Daniel O'Connell and Charles Stewart Parnell had monuments at either end of O'Connell Street yet they had not succeeded where Redmond had.

Speaking in Woodenbridge last night at the opening of a Wicklow war memorial park, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan praised Redmond as belonging to the "canon of heroes" of Irish parliamentary democracy.

He said those who criticised Redmond's Woodenbridge speech did not understand the context of the time when Germany had invaded neutral Belgium.

Redmond believed Ireland should “act to make a difference and defend the vulnerable and certain basic principles in a flawed and often brutal world”.