Remembrance Sunday: Restricted events held in NI

Micheál Martin and Arlene Foster laid wreaths in Enniskillen

Remembrance events took place in Northern Ireland on Sunday, but they were different from normal due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In Belfast, members of the public could not attend the event at City Hall and there was an overall limit on the number of people allowed to gather.

A short ceremony, led by Lord Mayor Frank McCoubrey, was live-streamed online.

The lord mayor laid a wreath at the Cenotaph.

He then observed a two-minute silence.

Belfast Lord Mayor Frank McCoubrey led events at City Hall

In Enniskillen, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin represented the Irish government at a Remembrance Sunday service in St Macartin's Cathedral.

He also laid a wreath at the town's war memorial alongside First Minister Arlene Foster.

In 1987, 12 people were killed by an IRA bomb during the town's Remembrance ceremony.

Speaking at the event, Mrs Foster said Mr Martin had been "very keen to come here today to continue that tradition that has now been set up".

She added: "He is very welcome here in Enniskillen as we mark what is a very important day, right across Northern Ireland, but of course here in Enniskillen, it has a particular resonance."

Mr Martin said it was a privilege to be able to show "solidarity with all of the people in Enniskillen and beyond".

He said: "Particularly the families of those who lost loved ones in what was an appalling atrocity at that time, which the entire island of Ireland was repulsed by."

Stephen Gault, whose father was killed in the 1987 IRA bomb, laid a wreath at the Enniskillen war memorial

Dean Kenneth Hall, who conducted the service, said: "The visit is held with great importance as it gives a visible expression to community connections here.

"Each year the taoiseach comes to affirm us as a community, to reach out to us as a community and to show sympathy and solidarity with a community that has suffered dreadfully at the hand of terrorism.

There was no parade in the town this year and the wreath-laying ceremony was limited to 15 invited representatives who joined the British Legion at the war memorial.

While the public were asked not to attend the wreath-laying ceremonies, members of the community who would normally participate and lay a wreath could arrange with the Royal British Legion to have one laid on their behalf.

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People have also been able to lay their wreaths at an alternative time over the weekend.

There were similar events to mark Remembrance Sunday across Northern Ireland.

A small number of people gathered outside Belfast City Hall

In Londonderry, the public was asked not to visit the Cenotaph between 10:45 and 11:15, but can lay wreaths during the day.

The Remembrance of the service from the Diamond was live-streamed online.

In Crossgar, fewer than 15 people attended the Remembrance ceremony at the War Memorial Hall.

Among them were representatives from the RAF, Irish Guards and DUP.

Samuel Daye, who served in the Irish Guards, said this year's event was different but no less poignant.

"It doesn't diminish it in any way at all," he said.

"The people are still paying their respects.

"People may be paying their respects in their own home or have gone to a graveyard instead of coming here but it makes people think about it more."