AFTER a formal invitation by the British Government, the Irish Republic was represented at the Cenotaph in London on Sunday for the first time since the declaration of the Republic in 1949.

The Irish Ambassador to the Court of St James, Daniel Mulhall, laid a wreath of laurel, followed by the Commonwealth High Commissioners with poppy wreaths. Minutes earlier, the bands had played two melodies by the Irish composer Thomas Moore, "The Minstrel Boy" and "Oft in the Stilly Night". Ambassador Mulhall said that the invitation and act of remembrance represented the desire to remember the Irish dead, and reflected the relationship that now existed between the two countries.

In Ireland, the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, was in Enniskillen for the wreath-laying ceremony close to the site where an IRA bomb exploded in 1987.