Two Ministers are to attend events marking the 99th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan will attend Somme commemorations in Belfast.
He will represent the Government at Belfast City Hall’s Garden of Remembrance on Wednesday morning at an event remembering the first World War battle.
On July 1st, 1916, more than 2,000 men from the 36th (Ulster) Division were killed and some 5,500 injured during the initial assault in the battle.
There were also substantial casualties in other Irish battalions. The Royal Munster Fusiliers, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers also saw hundreds killed and wounded.
Mr Flanagan said that, while the Battle of the Somme has a particular resonance in Northern Ireland, it was also a “significant event for this island as a whole”.
He said that his attendance at what used to be seen as an event exclusively for the unionist community “fosters reconciliation and helps to heal the divisions of the past”.
Somme commemorations
Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys is travelling to the Somme to attend Wednesday’s commemorations.
She will attend services at the Ulster Tower, the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, and Guillemont, where the 16th (Irish) Division fought in September 1916.
Members of the Defence Forces will also be in attendance.
Ms Humphreys said she wanted to take the opportunity to visit the Somme because she had not been there before.
“It is incomprehensible that a million were killed or injured there.”
She said there was now a growing awareness of the fact that so many Irish people have relatives who fought in the first World War.
“It has been a great period of enlightenment regarding the first World War and the huge sacrifices Irish people made.”
The Government is putting together a commemoration programme for the centenary of the Battle of the Somme next year.
