Speech by Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration Royal Hospital Kilmainham Sunday, 25 January 2026

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A dhaoine uaisle go léir;

Is cúis mhór onóir dom a bheith anseo in bhur dteannta ar Lá Cuimhneacháin an Uileloscadh. Is ócáid an-tábhachtach agus mothúchánach í seo don phobal Giúdach ar fud na tíre - an lá a dhéanaimid comóradh ar saoradh Auschwitz i mí Eanáir naoi-gcéad daichead a cúig (1945).

Thar aon rud eile, is smál - gan a leithéid - ar anam an duine - an tUileloscadh. Dá bhrí sin, is searmanas an-suntasach é seo mar go leanfaidh sé de bheith ag spreagadh na nglúnta chun aird a thabhairt don ré atá thart agus gan an botúin chéanna a rinne cinedhíothú, glanadh eitneach agus na heasnaimh mhídhaonna is measa a athdhéanamh choíche.

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour to have been invited here today to speak at Ireland's Holocaust Memorial Day. In particular, I am honoured and humbled to share the room with survivors of the Holocaust and their families, including those who sadly left us this year.

It would be remiss of me not to recall and pay tribute in particular to the late Joe Veselsky, who recently passed away as Ireland's oldest man. A resistance fighter and holocaust survivor, Joe brought his story of survival and heroism to Ireland, where, in his new life in his adopted homeland, he continued to contribute in so many ways to our society, including as a committed supporter and attendee at this National Commemoration event until very recently.

This is a very important and emotional evening for the Jewish community in Ireland.

We unite to remember the six million Jews who were persecuted and murdered and the millions of other victims targeted on the basis of their ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or political and religious beliefs. It remains a unique and infamous crime.

By the end of the Second World War, most of Europe's Jewish communities had been decimated. And a great number of Jewish communities in Eastern Europe and parts of the Balkans had been utterly devastated. An estimated two-thirds of all of Europe's Jews were killed, in a programme of systematic and industrialised murder, the aim of which was their total elimination.

As I referenced in my opening, a year ago, I had the honour of spending International Holocaust Remembrance Day at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where we marked the 80th anniversary of its liberation.

The feeling of grief and desolation that permeates that place is very real, and I carry it with me.

The shocking atrocities and cruelty perpetrated during those darkest of times inflicted profound intergenerational wounds that go to the very heart of the Jewish community today.

So many innocent men, women and children had their right to life, dignity and liberty taken from them. And we, as a global society, were denied the enriching influence of their talents, their gifts and their inspiration.

The sheer scale of the cruelty, the inhumanity, the devastation remains almost impossible to comprehend. And the passing of time has not dimmed the horror.

But we must always be careful that incomprehension does not lead to inattention because inattention allows bad seeds to grow. Inattention allows hate and prejudice to insinuate themselves into public and private discourse.

We are reminded of Hannah Arendt's oft-quoted phrase about "the banality of evil". We must reflect on her words when she talked about "the strange interdependence between thoughtlessness and evil".

That is why we must always remain mindful; we must always remain vigilant.

In this context, I want to pay tribute to the work of the Claims Conference, the international organisation helping Holocaust survivors and working to ensure the crimes of the Holocaust are remembered and taught, who just this week published the results of their first survey on attitudes towards the Holocaust in our country.

There is some very sobering reading in that work; most starkly a finding that almost 10% of Irish people aged 18-29 believe the Holocaust is "a myth", while almost 20% of the same age cohort believe that it happened but that its scale has been "greatly exaggerated".

The Holocaust is the most clearly documented crime in world history. Its savagery and scale are undeniable, as are the identities of its victims.

This level of ignorance and denial is shocking and must be opposed.

Within this, we must all understand that the foundation of the Holocaust was anti-semitism. While not all anti-semites supported it, it would have been impossible without the corrosive evil of this deep prejudice.

Every decent person should be appalled at the levels of anti-semitism which still exist. They should be outraged at the need to provide protection for Jewish places of worship.

It is the duty of every person who believes in basic human dignity to call out anti-semitism wherever they find it - and that includes our society.

This level of Holocaust denial and distortion is not unique to Ireland, but it is a very clear reminder of the critical importance of your work in Holocaust Education Ireland, and the need for all of us to do more in terms of education and public awareness.

The more encouraging news from this research is that 92% of those surveyed believe that it is important to continue teaching people about the Holocaust. In me and in this Government, you have a willing and eager partner in meeting this challenge.

Our Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton and her Department are working with the Department of Foreign Affairs to develop an educational programme with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.

And the Claims Conference, along with the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland has come forward with a very interesting proposal about giving schools access to Survivors via video-conference to discuss and learn from their experiences, which I will also explore with the Minister.

We are living in increasingly unsettled times, where post-war norms of behaviour and language are being constantly undermined.

We are seeing growing instances of people feeling comfortable expressing antisemitism, racism and intolerance.

The Claims Conference research tells us that almost a third of Irish people have encountered Holocaust denial or distortion while on social media.

We see language and an attendant hatred that continues to move people to violence and murder.

I'm sure I speak for everyone here tonight when I say that our hearts go out to the families of the victims of the atrocity in Sydney in December. A terrible reminder that such virulent hatred exists and can manifest as violence and murder.

And so, as we remember the Holocaust tonight we think too of those 15 people, including a Holocaust survivor, who were murdered celebrating Hanukkah.

At the time of that atrocity, I spoke about the feelings of vulnerability and isolation that an event like that could have on our own small Jewish community and made it clear in the Dáil that our Jewish neighbours are an important and valued part of our society. I stated clearly and unambiguously that there can be no place for antisemitism or antisemitic rhetoric in our country.

I want to reiterate that message with you tonight.

Sometimes, in the darkest acts, we can see the hopeful side of humanity. It is often said that for evil to exist it requires good people to do nothing. In Sydney, we saw people refuse to do nothing. We saw people stand up to the attackers at great personal sacrifice, undoubtedly saving lives by their actions. We pay tribute to and take encouragement from that example of selflessness.

Indeed, it serves as a stark reminder of the reason we gather every year at this event.

It is to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, but also to ensure that these unspeakable events are not allowed to fade with the passing of time.

That is why we are especially honoured that today, over 80 years after the Holocaust, we still have the privilege of interacting with survivors. I would like to pay tribute to the fortitude and resilience of Suzi Diamond and Tomi Reichental who we are so lucky to have with us this evening.

Many of you will be already aware of the harrowing stories Tomi and Suzi have to share. In that act of sharing, they are providing an utterly essential service to their fellow human beings.
Tomi and Suzi, we are profoundly grateful for your courage and generosity.

You are an inspiration to current and future generations. We all have a great deal to learn from your mission and outlook. You are no less than living testaments to the strength and resilience of the human spirit, having never allowed the flame of hope go out.

The candles that are lit today symbolise the unquenchable light that still resides within each of you 80 years on. It is a light that is also carried by the generations who succeeded victims of the Holocaust.

Some of you here today are second, third or fourth generation survivors, including those from the Roma community. I am delighted that Caryna Camerino, Nicholas Browne, Alexandra Paszkowska, Yoram Tokar, Chief Rabbi Yoni Weider, Caroline and Molly Zinn-Collis, and Monika Paszkowska are here with us for this important occasion.

I stand in awe of each one of you. Collectively, we salute your extraordinary fortitude and thank you for your commitment to promoting the peaceful and respectful coexistence of humankind.

This Ceremony reminds us of the dangers of prejudice and intolerance of others who don't share our beliefs or customs.

Our generations owe it to those who died to ensure that we do all in our power to never allow the seeds of such hatred take root again.

I am acutely conscious that our Jewish community here in Ireland is experiencing a growing level of antisemitism. I know that elements of our public discourse has coarsened.

I know that the proposed renaming of Herzog Park caused deep hurt. I condemned it at the time, and more recently when I was delivering a lecture on the work of Dermot Keogh exploring antisemitism in our country, said that when a group of people decide that they will seek to rename the only park in our capital named after an Irish Jew without any consultation with the Jewish Community - and when they announce later that they will find a Jew they deem worthy enough to provide a new name - then frankly the community has every right to be deeply concerned and to express that concern.

Our urgent challenge is to work to ensure that the public realm offers safe spaces where ideas can be shared and debated and where differing views are tolerated with respect.

As part of this work, our Programme for Government commits us to giving effect to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance 'Working Definition of Antisemitism', which I was pleased to formally adopt on behalf of the Government in January 2025, and to implement the EU declaration on 'Fostering Jewish Life in Europe'.

Alongside this work, I am establishing a Structured Dialogue with faith and non-confessional groups to allow for open, respectful, and dignified debate and discussion on issues of mutual interest and concern.

I look forward to working collaboratively with you and your representatives on both fronts over the coming year.

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leat as an gcuireadh chun freastal agus labhairt anocht. Táimid uile aontaithe inár n-iarrachtaí a dhúbailt chun nach ligfear don uafás sin a tharlú arís go deo.

In conclusion, I want to thank you again for inviting me to attend and speak tonight. It is vital that all of us actively remember the horror of the Holocaust and redouble our efforts to ensure that the antisemitism and racism that enabled it are never again allowed to take hold.

Together, we remember.

END