Killester memorial campaign and DCC clash on WWI commemoration

Plans for to install a permanent memorial site in Killester to commemorate servicemen who served in World War I have been delayed after Dublin City Council Commemorations Committee rejected two designs submitted by a local campaign group.

The campaign began in January 2020 when the Killester WWI Memorial Campaign lodged an application with the commemorations committee to mark the servicemen with a permanent memorial beside Killester Garden Village.

The housing estate, which was built between 1920 and 1923, was developed for Irish soldiers who were returning from WWI and consisted of 289 bungalows.

The scheme was designed to try and help the ex-servicemen suffering from PTSD with the houses have large back gardens and a “countryside look,” according to the group.

“This in essence was to provide a therapeutic feel in the area for these ex-servicemen, they were also massively encouraged to grow fruit and veg in their back gardens and have flowers in the front.

“There were even garden competitions,” the group says.

Independent councillor for the area, Damian O’Farrell says the men who served in the war and subsequently lived in Killester, deserve to be commemorated.

“It was only when I was first elected to DCC in 2009 did I really get to hear about and understand the historical significance of this area of Killester and its association with WWI,” he told the Northside People.

“This part of our nation’s history was certainly not on the curriculum when I was at school.

“There was great poverty in Dublin and the rest of Ireland in the early part of the 20th Century and you only have to think of the 1913 lockout to have some idea of the challenges facing young families at the time.

“In order to feed their families back in Ireland thousands of young Irish men joined the British Army not having any idea whatsoever of the brutality that awaited them in WWI.

“I do think it’s fitting there is some type of memorial to commemorate this part of our heritage and I support this campaign.”

The campaign’s application was accepted by the commemorations committee but proposed designs for the memorial have been rejected.

The original design for the proposal, which would be located at Abbeyfield, consisted of a small garden with a Celtic cross situated in the middle and a marble bench located on either side of the cross.

A flagpole that would hoist the tricolour was also featured in the plans with cost of the memorial estimated to be €10,000.

In a follow-up design, the Celtic cross was replaced with a stone obelisk.

“We feel this is a more solemn, elegant and more of a fitting tribute to honour not only the 289 Irish WW1 ex-servicemen of Killester but also the uniquess of the area as the largest ex-servicemen scheme in the Republic,” the group said.

“As well as a lasting peace garden to contribute to peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland.

“It will be a public amenity to benefit all those of the Killester community.

However, at a recent North Central Area Committee meeting, Sinn Fein councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha, who is chair of the commemorations committee said the “design was not accepted, nor would it be accepted.

“What was accepted in principle was that the history of the area should be reflected in some form.

“It was then proposed that the group talk to the Parks Department about what form that should take,” he said.

“The idea that one of the information signs that were put up around the area giving local histories, would be one idea – perhaps a bench or a plaque.

“But the group came back to our last commemorations committee with basically the same proposed design which was not accepted the first time and will not be accepted.

“So they need to work with Parks on the ideas that have been put forward.”