The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has said he wants people of all political traditions to feel included in tomorrow's 1916 commemoration, as final preparations are made for the first Easter parade through Dublin for over 30 years.
As 2,500 members of the Defence Forces prepare to march past the GPO tomorrow on the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising, Mr Ahern said yesterday that he wants the occasion to be "an inclusive event".
He hoped that "all of the people of Ireland and those who support different political persuasions or find themselves in a position where they can support none" can feel they can celebrate "the people who gave us our freedom, our independence, our self-determination and all that we have today and all that we want to build in the future".
A Defence Forces spokesman said up to 100,000 people were expected to turn out to watch the parade, which will leave Dublin Castle some time before noon and travel down Dame Street, College Green and Westmoreland Street to the GPO.
President Mary McAleese and the Taoiseach will lead the commemoration ceremony there. The military parade will then continue past the GPO to Parnell Square.
Dublin City Council has sealed all litter bins along the route of the parade, on the advice of the Garda. Roadworks on O'Connell Street have also been secured.
Large video screens will be set up at a number of points to relay the ceremony at the GPO, and live coverage will begin at 11.30am on RTÉ.
About half of the 900 invited guests will be representatives of the families of those who fought in the Rising. Other VIPs will include politicians and representatives of the diplomatic corps, including the British ambassador.
Unionist Assembly members have declined a formal Government invitation to join the commemoration. It was reported yesterday there would be some representatives of the unionists in attendance. However, DUP and Ulster Unionist sources said no Stormont-elected representative would accept an invitation.
Insisting his intention was to be inclusive of different political traditions, Mr Ahern said: "We want this to be an expression of respect for what was achieved by those who participated in 1916 and in the subsequent War of Independence, also remembering all those who were the founders of the State and who started the early years of the Free State."