AS Taoiseach Enda Kenny stood with his head bowed at the war memorial in Enniskillen on Remembrance Sunday it was, he says, a very personal moment of silent reflection for him.

Standing yards from the spot where the IRA Poppy Day bomb exploded in 1987, killing 11 people and injuring 63, Mr Kenny said he recalled the late Gordon Wilson, whom he knew personally during his time as a senator in the Irish Parliament, and his last moments with his daughter Marie as they lay beneath the rubble. The Irish Prime Minister said the heart-rending moment was “very much” on his mind as he stood for two minutes of silence on Sunday.

“I knew the late Gordon Wilson. I was thinking about him; that he held hands with his daughter Marie when she passed away,” he told The Impartial Reporter.

Mr Kenny said his personal connection with Enniskillen and Mr Wilson, a peace campaigner, was part of the reason why he returned to the town for Remembrance Sunday this year despite being asked to attend services in other parts of Northern Ireland.

Following last year’s service, the Taoiseach met Mr Wilson’s widow Joan and spoke highly of her husband and, much to her delight, recalled his work in the Republic and even how he used to observe him regularly leafing through the morning newspapers in the library of the Irish Parliament.

Mr Wilson was nominated as a Member of Seanad Éireann on February 10 1993 by the then Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds. Although a Member for a short time, he made a considerable mark on Irish politics.

Mr Kenny said it meant something to be invited to Enniskillen last year and to meet Mrs Wilson.

But his overriding memory of Mr Wilson is about the kind of man he was, and the man he knew.

“I remember his humanity, his interest in peace and reconciliation, his interest in attempting to have closure brought to so many minds that were troubled by all of the difficulties arising from the Enniskillen bomb and from the Troubles in general,” he said.

Mr Kenny went on to explain that since becoming Taoiseach he has met with groups “who have been displayed or pressurised one way or another, or lost loved ones” and added: “They’re representative of people who lost loved ones during the Troubled times.” Asked for this thoughts on the fact that nobody has ever been convicted of carrying out the Enniskillen bombing 26 years ago, Mr Kenny said: “You would like to bring closure to these things; it is an element of the difficulty of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. These are issues still to be resolved in whatever way is possible.” In his speech at the British Legion following the service, Mr Kenny told guests including Secretary of State Theresa Villiers, Stormont Minister Arlene Foster, and members of the legion that it was a “privilegeto be in Enniskillen.” “It is also symbolic of the real interest we have in continuing to work right across the communities in an attempt to understand what reconciliation can actually be,” he said, explaining that the dayof reflection “brings home the recognition and futility of life.” “I think it is important to recognise from our perspective the highest honour we can give is the laying of a laurel wreath -- it’s what we do for our own and in that sense it is symbolic that one be placed amidst the poppy wreaths at the cenotaph in Enniskillen,” he said.

Mr Kenny explained that “so many people have been sufferers of the Troubles in Northern Ireland for so long” and added: “from a Christian perspective you can bring a sense of closure and understanding of the stress and trauma and loss and tragedy that they have felt.” “That’s why I came back to Enniskillen this year,”said Mr Kenny, “This is an occasion that means something to me personally. My back to back visit is a statement in its own right.” Bringing his remarks to a close, Mr Kenny said: “Our common humanity is the threat that binds us together. We are all the on the one conveyor belt and while we are here we should mind each other and not obliterate other human kind as has happened on unfortunately too many occasions.”