Twenty-five years after the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland's imperfect peace

Special Envoy to Omagh, Derry and Belfast

On slender poles are perched 31 small mirrors.

By a subtle game of reflection, they must send the rays of the sun from the "garden of commemoration" up to three hundred meters away, in a shopping street in the small town of Omagh.

At the exact location of the terrible attack of the summer of 1998, the deadliest of the Northern Irish conflict, which occurred after the signing of the peace agreements, the 25th anniversary of which is celebrated today.

Thirty-one mirrors, like the number of victims of this tragedy which also left 220 injured.

“

” commented Michael Gallagher, who lost a 21-year-old son on that fateful day.

Here, it is pointed out that Omagh is famous for being the least sunny town on the island of Ireland and that this adds to the poetry of the work, by showing that the star always ends up shining in the middle of the day. dark.

In the garden, the names of the dead engraved in stone...

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