TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN sported a ‘shamrock poppy’ lapel pin at the British-Irish Council summit in Blackpool today – marking Remembrance Day, which takes place on 11 November every year.
It is understood the two minutes silence for Armistice Day was marked by the leaders, including the Taoiseach, in the meeting at 11am this morning.
Micheál Martin is in Blackpool for the British-Irish Council summit, where today he met with Minister for Intergovernmental Relations Michael Gove and First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon.
Last night, the Taoiseach met with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Speaking to reporters, he said he does not believe that wearing a poppy is as “controversial as some people suggest”.
“I think people understand the need to remember those that lost their lives in war in the past and we in Ireland particularly, coming out of the Good Friday Agreement, I think we entered into a new mature reflection on all of these issues.
“Many Irish died in both of the major wars. I think it is appropriate particularly at the British-Irish Council summit, which reflects the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement, which is an institution of the Good Friday Agreement, that we would pay due honour to those that lost their lives in WWI and WWII and other conflicts.
“I have no difficulty in that at all. I think the vast, vast majority of Irish people are of one mind on that,” he said.
Today marks the anniversary of the day World War One ended, on 11 November in 1918.
Poppies are worn to commemorate the dead of the war as they are the flowers that grew on the Western Front battlefields of France and Belgium in the wake of the fighting.
In terms of symbolism, the occasion is sometimes a complicated one for members of Irish political parties which have their roots in the time of the 1916 Rising and the War of Independence.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar wore a poppy in the Dáil in 2017 when he was Taoiseach, with the news reported around the world by news outlets such as BBC at the time.
About 210,000 Irish men and women served in the British forces during World War One, and around 35,000 died. Home Rule leader John Redmond backed the involvement of Irish soldiers, arguing that it was necessary to support “the freedom of small nations”.
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