Dear Sir/Madam,
   I have just returned from Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland after attending the Opening of the Mayo Memorial Peace Park. It was a memorable event in Honour of Mayo’s Fallen Heroes. The Mayo Memorial Peace Park looked splendid and is credit to all who were involved in making this an Everlasting Memorial to the War Dead of County Mayo. President Mary McAleese Officially Opened the Peace Park and Her Speech is as follows.
 REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF        THE MAYO PEACE PARK, GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE CASTLEBAR
                                       TUESDAY, 7 OCTOBER 2008
          Ambassadors, ladies and gentlemen,

          Dia dhíbh a chairde. Tá an áthas orm bheith i bhur measc ar on
          ocáid seo. Míle bhuíochas díbh as an gcuireadh agus an fáilte a
          thug sibh dom.

          This is a very special occasion for the people of Mayo as we
          Gather to officially open this beautiful Mayo Memorial Peace Park
          Garden of Remembrance. I am very grateful to Michael Feeney, the
          Chairman of the Mayo Peace Park Committee and instigator of the
          Project for the invitation to be here.
          This place is a simple gesture of respect and honoured memory for
          All those from Mayo who gave their lives in the unselfish service
          Of others. Some gave service in the uniform of the Irish Army on
          Service with the United Nations, while others wore the uniforms
          of other armies, the British Army, American, Canadian,
          Australian, New Zealand and indeed many others if we cast our
          minds back over the centuries of our complex history. Some of
          those who died were destined to be well-remembered. Others,
          particularly the fifty thousand or more who died in the Great
          War, were destined to have their memories consigned to shoe-boxes
          in attics until recent years, when a great longing for
          Reconciliation allowed us to remember differently.

          The opening of the Island of Ireland Peace Park in Messines in
          Belgium over a decade ago showcased this new mood and the opening
          of the Mayo Peace Park Garden of Remembrance consolidates it,
          ensuring that we will continue to remember differently, and in
          Remembering all that appalling sacrifice, dedicate ourselves a new
          to building peace and closing the door forever on conflict.
          This year we celebrate fifty years of Irish peacekeeping with the
          United Nations. The people of Ireland have taken enormous pride
          in the professional, tactful and compassionate way our Defence
          Forces provided protection and care of very troubled communities
          in conflict situations across the World. They have brought hope
          and dignity to so many anxious and endangered people and they
          have brought huge credit and international respect to their
          Homeland. This small island with its embedded tradition of
          Military neutrality has never shirked its responsibilities in the
          cause of world peace, and Mayo’s sons and daughters have made and
          continue to make their distinctive contribution.

          Our first President Douglas Hyde kept the memory of the famous
          Mayo poet Anthony Raftery alive when he gathered in his words
          from the oral tradition and collected them in writing for future
          Generations.  In his best known poem he wrote in rapturous terms
          about his Mayo home in words that could have been written of this
          Day and this place:
          “And if I were standing in the midst of my people, Age would
          leave me and I'd be young once more'
         Almost all of those we commemorate here died young. They died
          wishing they could be back among their people. Here we bring
          their memories back among their people and they are indeed young
          once more.

          We are a very fortunate generation that we can gather in
          Commemoration of all those Irish men and women who gave their
          Lives - whether it was for Irish freedom in successive uprisings
          over centuries of resistance to colonisation or whether it was in
          the many European uniforms in which the scattered Irish served
          for causes they felt passionate about, sometimes conflicting
          causes, whether it was in British, American, Australian, Canadian
          or New Zealand uniforms or whether in service with the UN.  This
          is probably the first generation to be able to reconcile and
          revere all those memories.
                                Go raibh maith agaibh go léir. Ends
Michael Feeney and his Committee are still looking for Names of Mayo’s Fallen Heroes to be added, so they will not be forgotten, since June after the Memorials were inscribed the World War Two Memorial Names have doubled in number and there Names will be added in due course.
Contact Details:
Michael Feeney, Milebush, Co Mayo, Ireland.
Email: info@mayomemorialpeacepark.org 
Eamonn Horkan, Cashel Park, County Mayo, Ireland
Captain Donal Buckley, Derryhick, Co Mayo, Ireland.
Email dbuckley@anu.ie
                              Website: www.mayomemorialpeacepark.org
County Mayo’s War Dead were not so well Commemorated in there own Country now there Sacrifice will be Never Be Forgotten. In the future other Counties in Ireland may wish to erect a Memorial to there Sons and Daughters so they too will never be forgotten.

                           May They Rest in Eternal Peace.

YOURS FAITHFULLY
MARTIN COYLE