President Catherine Connolly lays wreath at 1916 Rising ceremony

By Cillian Sherlock, Press Association

President Catherine Connolly has laid a wreath to commemorate those who died during the 1916 Easter Rising, for the first time since taking office.

Thousands of people lined Dublin’s main thoroughfare, O’Connell Street, for an event marking the 110th anniversary of the armed rebellion against British rule in Ireland.

The commemoration was also attended by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, Defence Minister Helen McEntee, Lord Mayor of Dublin Ray McAdam, Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.

Crowds began to gather before 11am for the ceremony which saw a parade of Defence Forces personnel and music from a military brass band.

A Defence Forces chaplain led a prayer and the national tricolour flag above the General Post Office (GPO) was lowered to half-mast at noon.

Following a reading of the Proclaimation of the Irish Republic, the flag was raised again after Ms Connolly laid a wreath to commemorate those who had died in the Rising and the national anthem was played before an Air Corps flyover.

The reading was by Captain Eva Houlihan, the fourth woman to do so in the annual commemorations.

A minute’s silence was also observed, breaking almost exactly as a hail shower fell on O’Connell Street after the otherwise sunny event.