merrion street

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore, T.D., is in Belfast this morning where he will lay a laurel wreath at the main Northern Ireland Remembrance Sunday Commemoration Service.

The Tánaiste will be joined by the First Minister of Northern Ireland, Peter Robinson MLA at the service, which takes place at the Cenotaph at Belfast City Hall.

The Belfast ceremony is one of several taking place throughout Northern Ireland to commemorate the sacrifices of the servicemen and women of British and Commonwealth forces during the two World Wars and in later conflicts.

The Tánaiste, who is attending the Belfast Remembrance Sunday services for the second year in succession, said:

‘It is both important and appropriate that I am here today in Belfast to respectfully remember those Irishmen and women, from all communities and from both parts of the island, who died in conflict."

The Tánaiste was in Northern Ireland yesterday where he addressed the Annual Conference of the SDLP in Armagh and committed to help bring an exhibition of photographs about 'the Disappeared' to towns and cities throughout Ireland.

In Belfast last night, both the Tánaiste and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers MP, addressed the Irish Association (www.irish-association.org) on the occasion of their 75th anniversary. On the eve of Remembrance Sunday, both speeches focused on the theme of commemorations and respectful remembering.