The message must go out loud and clear that "there can be no place for racism in Ireland", the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said last night. Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent, reports.
In Dublin's City Hall at a Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony, he said the Holocaust provided "a powerful reminder of why the European Union, which grew out of the ruins of the second World War, was so important to our future peaceful development.
"Last year saw a great milestone with the accession of 10 new member-states to the European Union. We must never forget that the same people who were under Soviet domination for 50 years suffered some of the worst Nazi atrocities," Mr Ahern said.
Acting together, members of the EU had prepared a new draft constitution, which had the concept of fundamental human rights at its core, he added.
Last week, in launching the National Action Plan Against Racism, the Government had set out a strategy for combating racism in Ireland for the years ahead, he said. Its purpose was "to ensure recognition for cultural diversity and protection from race hatred and discrimination".
Mr Oliver Donohoe, chairman of the Holocaust Memorial Day committee, said a recent European study found that one in five respondents held anti-Semitic views, and that anti-Semitic incidents were increasing throughout Europe. "Last year, Dublin had its first anti-Semitic incidents for decades, with swastikas daubed on the Jewish museum, synagogue and Jewish cemetery," he said. All could help prevent a Holocaust ever happening again "by nipping anti-Semitism in the bud. . . ".
Among those taking part in last night's ceremony were seven Holocaust survivors who live in Ireland: Mr Terry Samuels, Mrs Suzi Diamond, Mr Tomi Reichental, Mr Geoffrey Phillips, Mrs Doris Segal, Mr Zoltan Zinn-Collis, and Mrs Rosel Siev.
Readings during the 90-minute ceremony were by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell; former taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald; broadcaster John Bowman; former Labour Party leader Mr Rúairí Quinn: Sister Carmel Niland of the Sisters of Sion: Senators Mary Henry and David Norris, and poet Theo Dorgan.
Among those reading on behalf of Holocaust victims were Mr John Dolan of the Disability Federation of Ireland; Ms Anastasia Crickely of the national consultative committee on racism and interculturalism; Mr Clement Esebamen of the Tallaght Partnership; Mr David Begg, general secretary of the ICTU; the US ambassador, Mr James Kenny; the Canadian ambassador, Mr Mark Moher; Col John Steed, military attaché at the British Embassy, and Mr Viachleslav Nikiforov of the Russian Federation embassy.
A prayer was said at the end of the ceremony by the Chief Rabbi, Dr Yaakov Pearlman.
Among the attendance were Mr Tom Kitt, Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach; Mr Richard Bruton, Fine Gael finance spokesman; Ms Joan Burton, Labour party finance spokeswoman; Mr Trevor Sargent, leader of the Green Party; former Labour TD Mr Mervyn Taylor; former Fine Gael TD Mr Alan Shatter; former minister for justice Ms Nora Owen; former Fine Gael MEP Ms Mary Banotti; Senator Maurice Hayes; Cardinal Desmond Connell; the papal nuncio, Most Rev Giuseppe Lazarotto; and the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Most Rev John Neil.