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The Taoiseach has lain a wreath to mark Remembrance Day at a service in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.
Micheál Martin continued a tradition of attending the commemorative event which was started by then taoiseach Enda Kenny in 2012.
He placed a laurel wreath at the town’s war memorial on Sunday morning before standing in silence to pay his respects. He was joined by Northern Ireland’s education minister Michelle McIlveen.
The event took place 34 years after the IRA’s Poppy Day bomb attack at the town’s war memorial. Eleven people who had gathered to pay respects to the war dead were killed and dozens more were injured in the no-warning blast, which happened just minutes before the event was due to start. A 12th victim of the bombing died 13 years later having never woken from a coma.
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Former first minister Arlene Foster, a native of Enniskillen, attended the event in a private capacity. She stood alongside relatives of those killed in the Poppy Day massacre at the Clinton Centre, where the bomb went off.
Conservative MP and Northern Ireland minister of state Conor Burns was also in attendance and wreaths were laid by dignitaries from the British army, the emergency services and representatives from US and Polish consuls.
Hundreds of people turned out to mark the occasion after numbers were restricted last year due to the pandemic. They observed two minutes’ silence.
Mr Kenny became the first taoiseach to attend a Remembrance Day service in Northern Ireland when he took part in commemorations at Enniskillen nine years ago. That move was symbolic of the greater recognition afforded in the Republic to the Irishmen who fought and died serving in the British army in the first World War.
At a separate ceremony in Belfast, Lord Mayor Kate Nicholl laid a wreath at the cenotaph in the Garden of Remembrance at City Hall. First Minister Paul Givan was also in attendance.
It came as Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth was unable to attend the event in London, having sprained her back. In a statement, the palace said it was with “great regret” that she would be unable to participate.
“The queen, having sprained her back, has decided this morning with great regret that she will not be able to attend today’s Remembrance Sunday service at the cenotaph. Her majesty is disappointed that she will miss the service,” it said. “As in previous years, a wreath will be laid on her majesty’s behalf by the Prince of Wales.” – PA