THE SDLP Lord Mayor of Belfast, Mr Alban Maginness, and his Dublin counterpart, Mr Brendan Lynch, participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph outside Belfast City Hall yesterday to commemorate the fallen of the Battle of the Somme.
Mr Maginness and Mr Lynch joined other groups laying wreaths in memory of the soldiers of the 36th Ulster Division killed in the battle.
This was the first time that a nationalist lord mayor had led the procession at the ceremony and it was also the first time that a Dublin lord mayor had attended.
Mr Maginness said he had not attended before because the opportunities were not present and the political climate was not amenable to his being there. He believed the time was now apt to mark an occasion of great solemnity.
"It is important that we reconcile this city, and the two communities in this city. This is one way of doing that," he said.
Mr Lynch said he had no difficulty in being present, and he hoped it might contribute to a spirit of reconciliation. "If you cannot commemorate the dead then you have no right to hold office as lord mayor," he said.
He added that many people from the South and from his own city died in the Battle of the Somme, and it was fitting that he should be in Belfast for the service.
Mr Sammy Wilson, of the DUP, accused Mr Maginness and Mr Lynch of "blatant hypocrisy". He predicted that Mr Maginness would not attend the ceremony next year when he was no longer lord mayor.
Referring to Mr Lynch, he added: "It is amazing that he could not, and would not, organise such a ceremony in his own city, from which thousands died while serving in the British army during the first World War. How can he find it impossible to commemorate the dead in Dublin but travel one hundred miles up the road to commemorate the same dead in Belfast?
"Hopefully, having made the step, these two people will not find attending a commemoration service such a traumatic event, and in the future we will see SDLP participation in Belfast and a commemoration in Dublin.
"Otherwise, we can only conclude that nationalists were dragged into this event out of embarrassment rather that out of civic duty and true respect for those who laid down their lives," Mr Wilson said.
Mr Jim Rodgers, the UUP deputy Lord Mayor, welcomed the initiative. He hoped it would help to counter the belief that it was only Protestants who died in the Battle of the Somme.
