Higgins lays wreath in honour of 1916 Rising

President Michael D Higgins laid a wreath at the General Post Office in O'Connell Street, Dublin, today at the annual commemoration ceremony in honour of all those who died in the 1916 Rising.

Earlier the British Ambassador Domnick Chilcott broke new ground in Irish-British relations by laying a wreath at Glasnevin Cemetery in honour of the 1916 rebels.

In O'Connell Street 350 personnel from the Defence Forces were on parade to mark the 97th anniversary of the Rising.

The ceremonies began with the arrival of Minister for Justice and Defence Alan Shatter and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Naoise Murray at 11.40.

Shortly afterwards Taoiseach Enda Kenny arrived and was greeted with a salute by the Army band.

President Higgins then arrived and after inspecting the guard of honour he joined the Taoisaech in front of the GPO.

At noon the national flag was lowered to half mast and the Army chaplin, Monsignor Eoin Thynne read a prayer of remembrance.

This was followed by a piper, Bandsman Sean Maher, playing Limerick's Lament. Captain Eoin Rochford then read the 1916 Proclamation.

At that stage the Taoiseach invited President Higgins to lay a wreath and a minute's silence was observed for all those who died. The Last Post was then played and the national flag was raised to full mast.

Then after reveille and the playing of the national anthem there was a fly past by the Air Corps. The band and the guard of honour then marched off and the ceremony concluded.

A range of dignitaries from all walks of society and relatives of the men who died in 1916 were among the guests of honour at the ceremony.

Minister for Jobs and Enterprise Richard Burton and Minister for Arts and Heritage Jimmy Deenihan were among the political figures in attendance. The Attorney General Maire Whelan and the Government whip in the Dail, Paul Kehoe and the Government whip in the Seanad, Paul Coghlan were also there.

Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and SLDP leader Alaisdair McDonnell attended. Ministers of State Fergus O'Dowd and Alex White and Independent TDs Maureen O'Sullivan and Catherine Murphy attended.

The Chief Justice Susan Denham and Papal Nuncio Charles Brown were also there.

At the earlier ceremony in Glasnevin the British Ambassador and the Minister for Heritage Jimmy Deenihan laid wreaths to commemorate the 1916 rebels and individuals associated with two symbols of the Irish Republic, the tricolour and the national anthem.

The first wreaths were laid at the Sigerson Memorial which commemorates 1916. Wreaths were then laid at the grave of Edward Hollywood, a Dublin weaver, who came back from France with the tricolour in 1848. The final wreath was laid at the grave of Peadar Kearney, the author of Amhrán na bhFiann. His great grandson Dualta Ó Broinn then sang the national anthem.

Chairman of the Glansnevin Trust John Green said it was appropriate to commemorate the men who helped to devise the two great symbols of the Republic, the tricolour and the national anthem.

He also said that on the day the men of 1916 and the Fenian tradition was commemorated it was only right, in the shadow of the O'Connell tower, to remember the peaceful political contribution he, and Parnell, had made to the creation of a free Ireland.