McGuinness is right to make WW1 battlefield trip, says ex-soldier

Danny Kinahan was speaking after the first instalment of Mr McGuinness’ trip on Wednesday, when Mid Ulster MLA and ex-IRA commander toured the former war zone of Flanders in Belgium.

He will now travel to France on Thursday to visit the Somme – although he has declined to attend the official ceremony to mark the centenary of the battle on July 1, on the basis that his presence may upset some participants.

On Wednesday’s trip he was accompanied by other senior Sinn Fein figures as he laid a plain green wreath at a round tower in The Island of Ireland Peace Park.

He said: “I come here as a proud Irish republican to recognise the deaths of thousands of Irish men during the course of the catastrophic imperialist First World War, which claimed millions of lives.

“It is important I come here as deputy First Minister in a spirit of peace and reconciliation, showing leadership and reaching out the hand of friendship to unionists.”

He added that he has recently discovered that many Irish republicans had relatives who died in the war, including his special advisor Conor Heaney whose great-grandfather died at the Somme.

Danny Kinahan, UUP South Antrim MP and ex-soldier (having served for eight years in the Household Cavalry) welcomed Mr McGuinness’ visit.

“It’s the right time to be making that sort of move,” he said. “I just hope that it’s all genuine. I don’t like some of the language that’s been used in the statements about ‘imperialist armies’, or being ‘a proud republican’.

“It doesn’t help send the signal. But it is still the right thing to do.

“We should be marking each other’s historical events.

“Not celebrating them; just recognising they exist and are part of our history.”

Asked if this would be a view shared among many of his ex-comrades-in-arms, he said: “I’m sure there are some who find it difficult, but we’ve got to move forward. We’ve got to find a new way of existing together.”

Jeffrey Donaldson, DUP MP for Lagan Valley and ex-UDR soldier (as well as being chairman of the Northern Ireland World War One Centenary Committee) said “it was the right decision by Sinn Fein not to go at the time of the actual centenary commemorations on July 1, and to recognise there are sensitivities here”.

Last week, he had said that participation in remembrance events was to be encouraged for all, and that it is wrong to “seek to exclude people”.

Speaking on the day of Mr McGuinness’ visit this Wednesday, he said: “The fact that this trip has taken place hopefully will encourage others from the republican tradition to recognise that remembrance is important for all of us, and that the men who died 100 years ago died for all of us.”