Higgins honours fallen soldiers

Ceremonies marking the National Day of Commemoration were led by President Michael D Higgins as he laid a wreath at Dublin’s Collins Barracks.

It was the focal point of events across the country to remember Irish people who died in past wars or on service with the United Nations.

More than 1,200 people from the Republic and the North attended the National Museum ceremony, including Taoiseach Enda Kenny and most of the Cabinet.

Members of the Defence Forces and ex-servicemen’s organisations also took part in the event. However, a planned flypast by the Air Corps was cancelled because of low cloud in Dublin.

A minute’s silence and gun salute followed the president’s wreath-laying.

Hundreds also attended a similar ceremony in Cork, as well as ones in Sligo, Galway, Waterford, Limerick and Kilkenny.