Mayo Peace Park

The County Mayo Peace Park and Garden of Remembrance is a challenge to document people from County Mayo who lost their lives in each World Wars. The park is located in Castlebar, County Mayo. The park was conceived by way of Michael Feeney. It turned into formally opened with the aid of Mary McAleese, the President of Ireland in October 2008. The annual Remembrance Day Services to commemorate the World War deceased began in 1999, whilst Feeney organized an professional Remembrance mass within the Church of the Holy Rosary in Castlebar following studies which confirmed that a sizable number of County Mayo squaddies have been killed in motion in World War I and World War II.

The peace park has confronted grievance because of the truth that it only commemorates individuals who fought for the British Army and no longer folks who died in the Irish War of Independence and the Easter Rising. A commemoration to Cornelius Coughlin, a Victoria Cross recipient for services all through the Indian Mutiny, become defined as a "conflict crime commemoration" via Dr Pat Muldowney, a historian and lecturer at the University of Ulster. The Peace Park changed into described as "a monument to the British" via Fianna Fail Mayo County Council organization leader Al McDonnell. McDonnell similarly stated that "My suspicious had been confirmed after they conferred an MBE on one of the park's founder contributors. The British saw the park as an endorsement in their colonial and army guidelines.