A "lasting and evolving" memorial to all the Irish people who served and died in the world's conflicts is to be located at a disused church near Athlone.
The Irish Veterans Memorial Project says it will be dedicated to the Irish who served in the major and less well-known conflicts in the 20th century.
Mr Declan Hughes, the project's co-ordinator, says the memorial will honour "those who served outside, but not excluding, the Irish Defence Forces".
The site, at Kiltoom church, Co Roscommon, just outside Athlone on the N61 Athlone-Roscommon road, was chosen because it is at the geographical centre of Ireland and so "was deliberately representative of the men and women who served and died and who came from every county and all four provinces", Mr Hughes says.
A draft proposal was put to the Church of Ireland by the project, which would see the church being renovated as a historic exhibition and research centre, including a physical memorial.
Rector Robert Jones of Athlone Union of Parishes says the legalities of leasing of the early 19th-century church to the project was "nearing completion".
Mr Hughes adds: "One of the consequences of Irish neutrality has been a virtual non-recognition for any man or woman who has served outside of the Irish Defence Forces and, crucially, a complete oversight of the role many Irish played in world events."
He says it is not that they were written out of history - "they were never written in".
On Remembrance Sunday, 1998, the 50,000 Irish who lost their lives in the first World War while serving in British army regiments, were officially recognised by the Irish State, says the group's literature.
Mr Hughes says that at the same time, during Veterans Day in Washington in the US, a wreath was laid for the first time at the Vietnam memorial "to give recognition and respect" to the Irish-born identified as having died in Vietnam while serving with US forces.
So far, 19 Irish men and one woman have been confirmed as having died with US forces in Vietnam, as well as four who died with the Australians.
The number of Irish known to have died while serving with US forces in Korea is in the twenties.
However, asks Mr Hughes: "Who were the Irish who served and died in World War I in American, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand or other uniforms? Likewise, World War II, Korea, Borneo, Malaya, Beirut, the Gulf or a host of other conflicts?"
Many, he says, are "buried in quiet churchyards throughout Ireland, while others lie in foreign soil". Some of these have been identified as Irish, "while others await that recognition".
Others are listed among the thousands and thousands of personnel listed as prisoners of war or those missing in action.
The project is also compiling a database of the Irish who served throughout the 20th century. Information before 1900 is also welcomed, says Mr Hughes, "as it gives a fuller and richer history on many a family tapestry".