Centenary of the Easter Rising Enda Kenny laid wreaths at the Stone Breakers' Yard in Kilmainham Gaol, scene of the 1916 executions. Before this occurred, the Flag of Ireland was lowered to half mast in front of Defence Forces personnel and relatives of the dead. Afterwards, there was a minute's silence, the "Piper’s Lament" and the "Last Post" were played, then Army captain Glen Harmon held aloft a shining sword to serve as an introduction to the national anthem. Tánaiste Joan Burton, defence minister Simon Coveney, justice minister Frances Fitzgerald, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and Martin McGuinness were also present. That evening, RTÉ broadcast
Easter Rising country's militant past, and particularly the Easter Rising. The coalition government of 1973–77, in particular the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, Conor Cruise O'Brien, began to promote the view that the violence of 1916 was essentially no different from the violence then taking place in the streets of Belfast and Derry. O'Brien and others asserted that the Rising was doomed to military defeat from the outset, and that it failed to account for the determination of Ulster Unionists to remain in the United Kingdom. Irish republicans continue to venerate the Rising and its leaders with murals in republican areas of