“We’ve all lost someone, either at home or on overseas service, so it’s important that we remember them on a daily basis, not just once a year,” says Paul Fagan.
Sitting in the back row in the sun-soaked courtyard of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham on Military Road in Dublin, Mr Fagan sits beside three other veterans in decorated uniform. All four served from Post 11 at the Curragh Camp in Co Kildare, he says. Their missions abroad over the decades included time spent in Lebanon, Kosovo, Liberia and the Congo.
They were among about 1,000 people to attend the annual National Day of Commemoration ceremony on Sunday.
At the other end of the courtyard, queues formed for a cold water and SPF station before the ceremony to honour Irish men and women who died in past wars or on peacekeeping missions abroad.
READ MORE
“We attend it every year – we try and get out to as many functions as we possibly can,” the 63-year-old, originally from Co Waterford, says, adding that those who have lost their lives “served their country with pride and distinction”.
“We’re here to represent them because they can’t be here.” The deaths of friends throughout his service, he says, “never leave you”.
Sitting beside him is Joe Guidera, who joined the Defence Forces in 1960 and served until 1998 before working as a clerical officer for a further 13 years.
He notes that he went to the Congo as a teenager.
“We learned a lot. We went out as schoolkids and came back as men,” he says.
Pointing to a man in the distance, with whom the 80-year-old served in Cyprus and who he has not seen for years, he says the ceremony “means everything to me”.
“It’s a great opportunity to come back and meet the lads,” he says, adding: “I met a guy the last time I was here and I hadn’t seen him for 40 years.”
The ceremony, attended by President Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Micheál Martin and several members of Government, was one of several held across the country.
Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Simon Harris said it was an opportunity to commemorate and thank those who have served the country over the years.
In particular, he said, he was thinking of peacekeepers currently based in Lebanon under the Unifil mandate. Noting that there will be a “big moment of decision” in August when the mandate’s renewal is up for consideration by the UN Security Council, Mr Harris said the people of Lebanon need peacekeepers “now more than ever”.
“We’re living in extraordinarily uncertain times,” he said, adding that he is beginning an Irish diplomatic campaign to try to “build alliances” to ensure the mandate can be renewed.
“So while we’re here today commemorating, I’m thinking of the diplomatic battles ahead to try and make sure Irish peacekeepers continue to serve in Lebanon,” he said.
