Developments of the three sets of relationships - those of unionist/ nationalist, British/Irish and North/South - at the heart of the peace process were the "ideals" for which John Redmond worked throughout his political life. "In that sense, he could well serve as a patron of the Good Friday agreement," Fr Walter Forde said yesterday.
Parish priest at Castlebridge, Co Wexford, and director of the Byrne/Perry summer school there, Fr Forde was speaking at a Mass to mark the 150th anniversary of John Redmond's birth in the Church of St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin.
Redmond, he said, generally "did not receive the public acknowledgement and credit he deserved". He added: "We tend to forget that he was seen in his time as the outstanding Irish public figure in the early years of the 20th century; an accepted leader at home and a key player at Westminster. For Irish people of his day, he created a greater sense of hope, a clearer identity and a stronger feeling of wellbeing. In 1914, he seemed in sight of the promised land [when the Home Rule Bill became law]." Despite this, for many decades Redmond "did not feature prominently in public discourse or political commentary, nor was he officially recognised as an important figure in our country's history. He seemed to have been largely forgotten and to have disappeared from the public square."
Fr Forde recalled historian Nicholas Mansergh's observation that Redmond preferred compromise at a time when compromise went out of Irish politics. He also recalled the more recent comment of Diarmuid Ferriter that Redmond was a parliamentarian when parliament was fast becoming irrelevant to what was happening on the ground.
"I suspect that the historical judgment today would be much kinder than that of, say, 40 years ago . . ." Fr Forde said.
"The collective amnesia about people, events, influences and achievements is beginning to be remedied. Just a few months ago we had the dignified, moving and long-overdue public commemoration of those thousands of Irish people who answered John Redmond's call and fought and died with the British army in the Great War."
