1916 centenary: Higgins leads the tributes to the fallen at Kilmainham Gaol

President Michael D Higgins and senior government ministers have led the tributes to the 1916 fallen at the Kilmainham Jail site where they were executed in an emotional reminder of the deaths of the Rising leaders.

Caretaker Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Tánaiste Joan Burton, defence minister Simon Coveney and justice minister Frances Fitzgerald stood side by side with Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness as the lives of the 14 men who died were honoured.

In a key commemoration event at the historic location, the Irish flag was lowered to half mast in front of Defence Forces personnel and relatives of those who died, before Mr Kenny and President Higgins laid wreaths on the same wall where the men were executed between May 3 and 12, 1916.