The revival of interest in acts of remembrance of the Battle of the Somme, which took place on this day in 1916, is a sign of both healing and dramatic change in relations between Ireland and Britain, according to the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, who is visiting the battlefields of Flanders.
Mr Murphy says he understands why Great War commemorations became neglected despite the scale of human loss at the Somme.
"For understandable reasons, the political turmoil in Ireland which followed the Great War led to an ambivalence about Irish soldiers returning from France.
"Against the background of the Irish War of Independence and the Civil War, the traditional Armistice Day commemorations became unsustainable and even the memorials fell into a state of neglect."
Mr Murphy says a re-evaluation of commemorations, especially in Ireland, could play a positive role as efforts are made to move away from the conflict of the past 30 years.
He continues: "There are some obvious lessons here for all of us emerging from a very different sort of conflict and trauma over the last three decades.
"First, we have to accept that the passage of time plays a role, although I hope it will not take 60 years to reach a consensus on how to deal with the past in Northern Ireland.
"But more importantly, we have to accept that the past is not easily detached from the politics and the mood of the present - in short, it is not easy to decide where the past ends.
"Nowhere is this more true than in Northern Ireland, where historic conflicts fuel present tensions and present bitterness infuses all attempts to address the past."
He admits there are no easy solutions to this, but suggests that perhaps one key to unlocking the process of reconciliation is to remember the losses at the Somme.
"The history of the Great War is above all else the human story of individuals, from families across Ireland, Catholic and Protestant. It is the story of remarkable suffering and terrible grief.
"One does not need to make value judgments about the declaration or the conduct of the war, or the motivation of its soldiers, to appreciate that."
Such a focus offers the best hope of coming to terms with the history of Northern Ireland since 1969, he says.
He concludes: "It will not be an easy process and we have barely begun, but as I look out across the endless rows of war graves in Flanders I will know - as every visitor does - that however terrible the suffering and however deep the bitterness, reconciliation is both possible and essential."