Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I warmly welcome the mayor, the ambassador and the delegation. I look forward to spending time with them this afternoon.I wish them a very warm welcome as a member of the Japan-Irish friendship group, as a sister-in-law of a Japanese woman, Hiroko Kawachi Currie and an aunt of my niece and nephew Keiko Currie and Cillian Currie. It is a huge honour for me to have you in the Seanad today. Konnichiwa.

Today is a special day, mayor, as it was our collective hope 18 months ago as we stood on the top floor of one of Hiroshima’s skyscrapers, looking out over your vibrant city that now stands on the ashes of August 1945, that the Hiroshima-Ireland relationship would continue to grow and flourish through the Mayors for Peace initiative. Here we are. Arigato gozaimasu.

My visit to Hiroshima and the Peace Memorial Museum left a profound mark on me and those of my colleagues who have visited, not only because of the sadness and shame of how humanity can hurt each other but because of the Mayors for Peace initiative; the need to act to protect, to end war and nuclear weapons. I rang the peace bell in Hiroshima that day in the hope that never again would any child or community suffer the same way. Today I hope the Members of this House and the mayors and councillors that we represent will join your movement and mission. Right now I feel the world really needs it. We have our own experience on this island of bombs and loss and of peace and reconciliation which can never be forgotten and which makes the Japanese Mayors for Peace conference in Ireland all the more powerful a reminder of the universal need for peace-building and the importance of truth and storytelling for generations to come. I know how important it is to the Hibakusha survivors to share their stories while they can so the voices of those who have died can be heard as a warning not just for the future but now; as I see tragic and terrific events unfolding in Ukraine and Palestine.

After visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, it is the stories I remember always, particularly from the hibakushaI was privileged to meet that day. There were stories of how thousands of children were caught unexpectedly in an atomic bomb at 8.15 in the morning on a hot, Japanese day. There was a flash, the ground lifted, everything turned black like night and a city was gone in seconds. I heard stories of how they tried to save their friends; how black, sticky rain like mud fell everywhere, which they later found out was radioactive. People were so thirsty from the radiation and lack of water they drank the rain. I heard about a mother who searched and searched for her daughter after the bomb but could only find her school lunch box, a tin box. When she opened it there was a lunch she had lovingly prepared, as all mammies do, untouched and unharmed, as she only wished her child could be. I heard stories of how life was never the same and how survivors had to live with the after-effects of radiotherapy, many shunned from society. I heard how one little girl who was seemingly unharmed by the bomb at the time later got sick. She found solace and hope in making thousands of paper cranes, a Japanese tradition of healing. She made them while in hospital and since she died, 8 months later, her paper cranes have become a symbol for peace all over the world, an act of solidarity that demonstrates innocence should survive no matter what. Later, members of the delegation will meet with students in my constituency of Dublin West, potential future leaders and peace builders on the other side of the world from them. Hopefully they too will be inspired by the exhibitions that are going to take place in Blanchardstown Library and first-hand accounts of the reality and futility of violence and war and the role of diplomacy and empathy in international relations.

Today, more than 2,800 cities are part of Mayors for Peace. We hope to grow that number during this visit across the island of Ireland, following on from Dublin City Council which first joined more than 30 years ago. I look forward to further collaboration with the mayor to grow this movement.

I will never forget the survivor we met in Hiroshima. For her and other survivors, for all victims of war and violence and future generations, we support you in your mission.