5 April 2015: ‘Remembering 1916’, Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin 11

On Easter Sunday, 5 April, the first official 2015 commemoration of the Easter Rising began at 9.30am in Glasnevin Cemetery with the raising of the tri-colour and the laying of wreaths at the Sigerson Memorial, a monument to the men and women who fell during Easter Week 1916. The event was attended by Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys TD and Minister of State Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD, as well as British Ambassador Dominick Chilcott and French Cultural and Scientific Councellor Frederick Rauser.

This was followed at 10am by the laying of wreaths and a pipers lament at the grave of Edward Hollywood, the weaver who made the first Irish tricolour.  This new flag, inspired by the French tricolour, was brought to Ireland by an Irish delegation that had travelled to Paris to congratulate the new Second French Republican government in 1848.

The commemoration concluded with the laying of a wreath and a pipers lament at the graveside of Peader Kearney, the republican who wrote the lyrics to The Soldiers’ Song, later adopted as the Irish national anthem (Amhrán na bhFiann). The ceremony will conclude at 10.30am.

From the International enyclopedia of the First World War: Fearghal McGarry on the Easter Rising.