The vast majority of the 300,000 men from this island who served in the “war to end all wars” were Catholics, as were the majority of the more than 49,000 Irishmen who died in the conflict.

“I think John McCrea would be horrified to think that this symbol could become a symbol of division, or national identity, or even a fashion statement. It is quite simply a symbol of memorial, of the grim reality of the terrible loss of life.”

A suggestion that the Diocesan Trust has a problem with the symbol of the poppy is quite untrue.