A bronze sculpture to the late Mgr Hugh O'Flaherty - uncle of the former Supreme Court judge, Mr Hugh O'Flaherty - is to be erected in Killarney when funds for the £400,000 project become available.
As a member of the Vatican Service and ex-officio head of the British Underground, Mgr O'Flaherty saved the lives of 4,000 Allied prisoners of war and Jews through his "Roman escape line".
A local teacher, Ms Breda Courtney-Murphy, said he was "the Oskar Schindler of Killarney". He was the subject of the 1983 film, The Scarlet And The Black, starring Gregory Peck.
Mgr O'Flaherty died in Caherciveen in 1963, where he had retired after suffering a stroke. He was offered a pension from the Italian government because of his services, "but he didn't take a lira of it", Ms Sheila Casey, a councillor, said.
Hugh O'Flaherty was "one of the greatest Killarney men," the Killarney UDC chairman, Mr Sean O'Grady, said.
However, there is some confusion. While most people have heard of his nephew, a recent survey undertaken by Holy Cross Mercy Primary School in Killarney showed only half of the town's populace had heard of the monsignor. Fewer still were aware of his connections with Killarney, where he grew up. "Are you putting up a statue to Hugh O'Flaherty?" Killarney councillors were being asked this week in the town where nephew Hugh also spent his early years.
"There is some confusion, and more public awareness of Mgr Hugh O'Flaherty is needed," said Ms Sheila Casey, a Fine Gael councillor who moved a motion this week to press ahead with the public sculpture.
Originally a bronze likeness was to have been commissioned privately. But an open competition was decided upon and 11 submissions from sculptors have been received.
The O'Flaherty sculpture was turned down for millennium funding, and Killarney UDC is now to seek help from the five countries - Canada, Australia, Italy, the US and Britain - which honoured Mgr O'Flaherty for his humanitarian work during the second World War.
In 1994, on the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Rome, a grove of trees of Italian origin commemorating Mgr O'Flaherty was planted in the Killarney National Park. The plaque commends the late monsignor for heroically serving "the cause of humanity".
His nephew has taken an active interest in the memorial project and recently helped Holy Cross fifth-class pupils with their project, "One More Forgotten Hero", to raise awareness of Mgr O'Flaherty.