Ireland’s speaker of lower house of parliament visits Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima
Feb. 18, 2023
by Fumiyasu Miyano, Staff Writer
Sean O Fearghail, speaker of the lower house of the parliament of Ireland, visited Peace Memorial Park, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward, on February 17 and laid a wreath of flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims. He remarked that it was the role and responsibility of politics to ensure that the tragedy that took place in the city in 1945 would never be repeated.
Guided by Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, Mr. O Fearghail observed a moment of silence upon laying the wreath in front of the cenotaph. He also toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum while listening to explanations provided by Takuo Takigawa, director of the museum. Fighting back tears, Mr. O Fearghail fixed his eyes on the charred lunch box of a child who had been mobilized for the work of tearing down buildings to create fire lanes and was killed in the atomic bombing.
Mr. O Fearghail’s visit to Japan was the result of an invitation from Japan’s House of Representatives (that country’s lower house of parliament). In an interview with reporters, he said he had been touched by the souls of those who died cruel and meaningless deaths. He added how he hoped to be able to convey to the world the spirit of Hiroshima, which was not about retaliation but about empathy for others.
(Originally published on February 18, 2023)
Sean O Fearghail, speaker of the lower house of the parliament of Ireland, visited Peace Memorial Park, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward, on February 17 and laid a wreath of flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims. He remarked that it was the role and responsibility of politics to ensure that the tragedy that took place in the city in 1945 would never be repeated.
Guided by Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, Mr. O Fearghail observed a moment of silence upon laying the wreath in front of the cenotaph. He also toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum while listening to explanations provided by Takuo Takigawa, director of the museum. Fighting back tears, Mr. O Fearghail fixed his eyes on the charred lunch box of a child who had been mobilized for the work of tearing down buildings to create fire lanes and was killed in the atomic bombing.
Mr. O Fearghail’s visit to Japan was the result of an invitation from Japan’s House of Representatives (that country’s lower house of parliament). In an interview with reporters, he said he had been touched by the souls of those who died cruel and meaningless deaths. He added how he hoped to be able to convey to the world the spirit of Hiroshima, which was not about retaliation but about empathy for others.
(Originally published on February 18, 2023)
