Sir, – I attended the National Day of Commemoration at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, on July 14th, as I have done for many years.
It is a wonderful ceremony in a wonderful setting, with all the main personnel and institutions of the State represented – the President, the Council of State, the Taoiseach, the Cabinet, the Defence Forces, veterans of service in the United Nations and leaders of the main churches and faith communities.
It was expertly choreographed, with a final flypast of aircraft, perfectly timed to catch the last strains of the national anthem.
It seems churlish to be critical of any aspect of such a fine ceremony. But there is one glaring flaw. Two-thirds of the ceremony were taken up with readings from the representatives of faith communities and churches.
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There are now 10 such groupings represented.
They are the Christian churches of Catholic, Protestant, Presbyterian, Methodist and Georgian Orthodox. In addition, there are the Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist and Hindu communities and the Humanist Association.
The faith participants have grown in number and, undoubtedly, they will grow further in number as time goes by.
According to the Taoiseach in his opening remarks, the National Day of Commemoration is an occasion to remember “all those Irishmen and Irishwomen who died in past wars or on military service with the United Nations and other international organisations in the service of peace”.
This is not a religious ceremony. Therefore, it seems strange that each faith community should be given an individual participation slot and that their collective participation should be allowed to dominate the duration and much of the ethos of the commemoration.
I believe that it is time for the Government to review the content of the National Day of Commemoration with a view to ensuring a better balance in future ceremonies. – Yours, etc,
JOE COSTELLO,
Dublin 7.
