The names of 570 people known to have perished in the sinking of the RMS Leinster in 1918 have been listed in a new memorial in Dun Laoghaire harbour.
The memorial to the greatest ever loss of life in the Irish Sea was unveiled on Saturday, October 10th, by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council cathaoirleach Cllr Barry Saul.
The RMS Leinster was torpedoed and sunk soon after leaving Dún Laoghaire (then Kingstown), bound for Holyhead, in the final weeks of the First World War.
Those who died came from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, England, the Channel Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States of America and Lithuania.
Those who survived lived with the trauma of their experience in the years that followed.
Names Unveiled – Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Cathaoirleach Cllr Barry Saul and RMS Leinster Memorial Committee honorary chair Richard Cruise unveil the memorial marking the 108th anniversary of the 1918 tragedy
The project has been supported by the Civic Memorials Committee of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, the RMS Leinster Memorial Committee, RMSLeinster.com, the Maritime Institute of Ireland, with funding from the Heritage Council of Ireland and the Department of Culture, Community and Sport.
"This memorial is the result of many people's efforts over the years to ensure that the tragedy of the RMS Leinster is not forgotten,”Cllr Saul said.
Personal Tributes – Flowers are laid beside the names of those who perished when RMS Leinster was torpedoed shortly after departing Kingstown for Holyhead during the final weeks of the First World War.
“It is the latest step in a collaboration of remembrance - following on from the recovery of the anchor in 1991, the major events to mark the centenary in 2018, the films, books and digital resources now available and most importantly, the memories of the descendants and relatives of the people who lost their lives on that terrible day."
Chief Executive of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Frank Curran, said the listing of the names of those who died when the RMS Leinster sank joins a number of memorials along Dún Laoghaire's waterfront remembering those who died at sea.
“These form an important part of the public realm of Dún Laoghaire and ensure that we make space in the modern world to remember the people and events of the past.''
The unveiling follows renewed attention to the tragedy on its 108th anniversary, with Irish Lights archives recalling the sinking of RMS Leinster and its connection to the Kish Lightship, near where the vessel was torpedoed on 10 October 1918.
