THE PARTICIPATION of the defence forces in this year’s Easter Sunday military parade down O’Connell Street cost the taxpayer €214,663.

More than 100,000 stand in tribute to the Easter Rising dead as a military parade moves down O’Connell Street, writes Political Correspondent Shaun Connolly.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today said he hoped parades would mark the Easter Rising each year until the centenary in ten years’ time as 120,000 people thronged Dublin’s streets in tribute to those who fought and died for Irish freedom.

Tens of thousands of spectators lined the streets of Dublin toay as Ireland marked the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising.