Names of Troubles’ victims read out at Dublin service

The names of all of those killed during the Troubles were read aloud today at a special service in Dublin.

The commemoration, at the Unitarian church on St Stephen’s Green, which began at midday, is now in its 21st year.

This was a day when the victims of the Troubles were remembered.

Many of the names may have slipped from public attention over the years, however, organisers say this was a chance to right that.

“I think it’s important,” said Rev Bridget Spain.

“The names are just lost lives. They really are lost lives. They come alive when you mention their names. All of the ripples of sadness that went off from those murders is horrendous and we can never go back there,” she said.

‘We can never go back there,’ says Rev Bridget Spain

For some who had gathered, this was personal.

Paula Rainey’s father, Joseph Campbell, was murdered in 1977.

“Today it’s just nice to sit in a peaceful place. It’s very neutral, and I get a lot of peace from it,” Ms Rainey said.

“I think it’s very important to remember the victims. When you come here and you hear the names listed out, what you actually get is a sense of all the people that you don’t remember,” she said.

Paula Rainey’s father, Joseph Campbell, was murdered in 1977

The names of the victims were more familiar to some who had gathered.

Margaret Graham worked as nurse in Belfast throughout the Troubles. She helped save many, she remembers though, those who were lost.

“I was in theatre, my first stint in theatre. We actually got a soldier in who had been blown up. And I was set up to do an amputation. But sadly, he died on the table… There was total silence around the table. You know, things like that stay with you,” Ms Graham said.

Margaret Graham worked as nurse in Belfast throughout the Troubles

“I suppose there’s a lot of their names that certainly come back to you… There’s big episodes that you remember. There were patients that I would have nursed in surgical wards that you knew were bomb or shooting casualties that were going to die,” she said.

“Looking back, you suddenly start to have some flashbacks and realising that that was not a normal way to be existing at all and, I suppose looking back, it’s quite amazing how normal it became,” Ms Graham said.

In all, nearly 3,600 names were read aloud today. The service lasted over three hours.

Names of Troubles’ victims read out at Dublin service
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