Micheál Martin attends Remembrance Sunday event in Enniskillen

ireland
Micheál Martin Attends Remembrance Sunday Event In Enniskillen
Taoiseach Micheál Martin during the Remembrance Sunday service in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. Photo: PA
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By James Ward, PA

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has lain a wreath to mark Remembrance Day at a service in Enniskillen.

Mr Martin continued a tradition begun by former taoiseach Enda Kenny in 2012 by attending the commemorative event in the Co Fermanagh town.

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He laid a laurel wreath at the war memorial on a foggy Sunday morning before standing in silence to pay his respects.

He was joined by Northern Ireland Education Minister Michelle McIlveen.

Remembrance Sunday
Northern Ireland Education Minister, Michelle McIlveen, and Taoiseach Micheál Martin during the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in Enniskillen. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

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Former Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster, a native of Enniskillen, attended the event in a private capacity.

She stood alongside relatives of those killed in the Poppy Day massacre of 1987, at the Clinton Centre, the location where the bomb that killed 12 people went off.

Conservative MP and Northern Ireland Minister of State, Conor Burns, was also in attendance.

Wreaths were laid by dignitaries from the British army, the emergency services and representatives from US and Polish consuls.

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Hundreds of people turned out to mark the occasion on Sunday, after numbers were restricted last year due to the pandemic.

They observed two minutes’ silence.

Remembrance Sunday
Northern Ireland Minister of State Conor Burns lays a wreath during the Remembrance Sunday service. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

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The event took place 34 years on from the IRA’s infamous “Poppy Day” bomb attack at the Enniskillen war memorial.

Eleven people who had gathered to pay respects to the war dead were killed and dozens more were injured in the no-warning blast in 1987 just minutes before the event was due to start. A 12th victim of the bombing died 13 years later having never woken from a coma.

Mr Kenny became the first taoiseach to attend a Remembrance Day service in the North when he took part in commemorations at Enniskillen in 2012.

In a separate ceremony in Belfast, Lord Mayor Kate Nicholl laid a wreath at the cenotaph in the Garden of Remembrance at City Hall.

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Northern Ireland First Minister Paul Givan was also in attendance.

Remembrance Sunday
Former DUP leader Arlene Foster attends the Remembrance Sunday service. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

It came as Buckingham Palace announced Britain's Queen Elizabeth was unable to attend the event in London, having sprained her back.

In a statement, the palace said it was with “great regret” the Queen would be unable to attend the service.

The statement said: “The Queen, having sprained her back, has decided this morning with great regret that she will not be able to attend today’s Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph. Her Majesty is disappointed that she will miss the service.

“As in previous years, a wreath will be laid on Her Majesty’s behalf by The Prince of Wales.”

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