The centrepiece of the 1916 centenary celebrations is underway in Dublin city centre.
The flag over the GPO being lowered to half mast to remember those who died in the #EasterRising pic.twitter.com/GlURKJdJSL
— Sean Defoe (@SeanDefoe) March 27, 2016
4,000 defence force personnel and around 250 army vehicles have begun making their way through the streets of for the Easter Sunday Parade.
The procession began at St Stephen's Green, before moving past St Patrick's Cathedral and College Green to the GPO, which was the rebel base of operations during the Rising.
Children laid flowers and there was a ceremonial reading of the proclamation by Captain Peter Kelleher - a re-enactment of the actions of rebel leader Patrick Pearse on Easter Monday 1916.
Acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny then invited Mr Higgins to lay the wreath "on behalf of the people of Ireland in honour of all those who died".
A flypast by the Irish Air Corps followed, with thousands looking on.
Grandstands were built to accommodate 6,000 people - 5,000 of them descendants of those who participated in the Easter Rising.
The parade will end with a 21-gun salute.
President Higgins inspects the troops before commemoration ceremony pic.twitter.com/jjnRW81zPm
— Sean Defoe (@SeanDefoe) March 27, 2016
These people at the parade's starting point were impressed with what they had seen so far:
Due to strike action, the Luas will not be running, and there will be heavy traffic restrictions in Dublin City today. Lieutenant Colonel Oisin Cahill is leading the transport logistics of today's parade and explains that nine months of planning have gone into that side of the event:
However, as the country remembers those who died in 1916 today, former Taoiseach John Bruton says the revolution wasn't a just war and that the occasion should not be celebrated.
