Parliament Buildings to be Illuminated for Armistice Day

Parliament Buildings will be lit up in red on the evening of Wednesday 11^th November 2015 for the first time to mark Armistice Day.  It was one of four days the Assembly Commission selected itself for the Building to be illuminated during the year. 

The Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly said: “My involvement in First World War commemorations over this last year has only underlined to me the importance that the Assembly should remember and show respect to the fallen.  Therefore, lighting Parliament Buildings red on the 11^th November is an important initiative and will follow on from the Act of Remembrance I will lead in the Great Hall to allow Members, staff, the civil service and visitors the opportunity to come together to mark the two minutes silence at 11am.

“Remembrance is very personal, even private, for many. As the Speaker representing an Assembly of diverse views, I am conscious that people will mark remembrance in their own ways being influenced by their own different backgrounds and perspectives.

“Remembrance should be a unifying, not a divisive, concept and my focus is to encourage as many people as possible to be involved in remembrance, regardless of how they choose to do it.  n the First World War thousands of young men and women set aside their differences at home to fight in common cause on foreign battlefields. That is an example that is foremost in my mind at this time of year.” 

ENDS.