Haunted Soldier defeats vandals

A BIGGER than expected crowd is expected to gather to say ‘farewell’ this afternoon to the sculpture of a First World War soldier which was vandalised last week.

The Haunted Soldier, which stands over six metres high. has been standing in St Stephen’s Green, Dublin since the beginning of the month.

The statue, which commemorates all those who took part in the conflict, had red paint thrown at it early on Wednesday morning.

The soldier, made entirely from scrap metal, had always been scheduled to return to its permanent home in the UK this weekend and a small goodbye ceremony had been planned for this morning.

But Sabina Purcell, the Dublin solicitor responsible for bringing the sculpture to Ireland, says the event will now be much bigger because of what happened this week.

She said: ‘We were going to have a small ceremony on Sunday morning but because of what happened, we’re making it an even bigger event and have moved it to the afternoon at 3.30pm.’

She has urged people ‘in their hundreds’ to come out and pay their final respects.

‘What happened was disgraceful. That is not Ireland, it is not Irish people We respect and honour all dead,’ she said.

The ceremony will be attended by people whose relatives took part in the war and will conclude with a two-minute silence, after which a bugler will sound the last post.