THE 40 children who died in the 1916 Easter Rising were remembered at a ceremony in Glasnevin Cemetery yesterday morning.
Around 300 people attended the ceremony at the Dublin graveyard where many of Ireland's leading figures of the time including Michael Collins, Roger Casement, Constance Markievicz and Seán MacBride are buried.
RTÉ broadcaster Joe Duffy, who has published a book on the children killed during Easter week 1916, opened the multi-faith ceremony.
"There were many many heroes and heroines among the civilians, many many heroes and heroines among the children," he said.
Musicians including Declan O'Rourke performed songs inspired by the children of the rising.
Relatives of the some of the children also laid a wreath at the cemetery's 1916 commemorative wall.
Forty multi-coloured balloons were then released to mark each victim.
The children included two-year-old Sean Foster, who was shot in crossfire while being wheeled in a pram by his mother on Church Street, and 15-year-old Fianna Éireann scout Seán Healy, shot outside his home in Phibsborough.
22-month-old Christina Caffrey, the youngest victim of the Rising, was shot in her mother's arms at the door of her house in Church Street.
She was later buried in an unmarked plot in Glasnevin.
