Deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly gives her thoughts on VE Day generations during Lisburn & Castlereagh Council VR event
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00:00So Debbie First Minister, how important was it for you to be in Lisburn today for the celebrations of VE Day?
00:06Look I think it's incredibly important. Today is about remembering and commemorating the many, many tens of thousands who went and fought.
00:14Many of those did not come home but many did and brought with them the experiences, the horrors that they had seen.
00:21And of course remember as well the many thousands of people, tens of thousands of people here that stepped up to keep the home fires burning
00:28or to work in the factories to contribute to the war effort.
00:31But it's also about celebration because of course VE Day 80 years ago was a day of celebration right across the world
00:38and of course across Northern Ireland and the UK as well.
00:42Yeah and obviously Lisburn has a rich military history and that was obvious here today.
00:47So it's particularly important for this town.
00:49Yeah look absolutely and you can see that there's been many, many different events right throughout the community
00:55and that's great to see because it's really important that young people know the sacrifice and the contribution of Northern Ireland to that war effort.
01:04My own grandfather fought in the Second World War, my grandmother who is still alive, her father fought in the Great War
01:10and her husband fought in the Second World War.
01:12So of course it's very personal for me as well to be here to remember that.
01:17On VE Day at that point just over I think 700,000 men from right across the UK and Ireland had given their lives in the war.
01:28Of course Northern Ireland being hit in the Belfast Blitz and other things as well where civilian lives were lost.
01:33So it's a day of remembrance and commemoration but a day of celebration and I think it's more important than ever that we remember that
01:40where we are facing those global conflicts still, the importance of peace but also the price of peace.
01:48And particularly with the conflict in Ukraine at the minute, how concerned are you that perhaps the West has taken a wrong turn with Ukraine?
01:56Joe Biden yesterday described what was happening as appeasement, would you agree with that?
02:01Look I think that there needs to be peace. Peace will come on the far side of that resolution of those conversations with those discussions and negotiations
02:10and I wish them all the very best. I think everybody wants to see that peace day in and day out, their lives being lost in Ukraine.
02:18And of course it is a stark reminder of the importance of investing in defence and that security not just of the UK but of course of Europe
02:27when you see how quickly that war could break out once again in Europe.