Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore lays a wreath at Belfast Cenotaph

NORTHERN IRELAND’S Cenotaphs fell silent yesterday to remember the sacrifice of men and women in two World Wars.

Belfast Lord Mayor Gavin Robinson laid a wreath at the Cenotaph in the grounds of the City Hall as councillors dressed in traditional robes looked on.

The Republic’s Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore also laid a wreath. He has a number of other engagements in the province today.

He said it set down a marker for future years and if the Irish Government was asked to attend it would.

At the stroke of 11 am, silence fell across the war memorial monument as the city fathers bowed their heads to remember those gave their lives for their country on foreign soil.

Taoiseach Enda at Enniskillen Cenotaph

In Enniskillen, Taoiseach Enda Keny and his deputy took part in the Remembrance Sunday service.

Mr Kenny laid a wreath at the town’s war memorial at a time when Enniskillen remembers the people who died at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday 25 years ago.

He later met relatives of victims of the Enniskillen massacre after service of remembrance at St Macartan’s Cathedral in the town.

It was the first time Republic’s two most senior cabinet ministers have taken part in Remembrance Day services outside the Republic.

The presence of senior Irish political figures is being seen as an effort to move the peace process forward and forge better links with the Unionist community in Northern Ireland.

In Comber, those attending the war memorial heard about Corporal Channing Day of 3 Medics, who died just over two weeks ago in Afghanistan.

Cpl Channing Day remembered in Comber Remembrance Day

Rev Wilson Gordon, who conducted her funeral service just days earlier, said: “She didn’t have the height requirement for the Engineers but she had heart requirement for Medics.”

In London, the Queen and members of parliament have paid their respects to the UK’s fallen soldiers.

They were joined at the Cenotaph by religious leaders and war veterans for a wreath-laying ceremony.

This year Remembrance Sunday falls on 11 November itself, the date of the armistice which brought World War I to an end.

There was a two-minute silence at the eleventh hour.