About 150 people gathered at the Bodenstown ceremony in Co Kildare yesterday for Republican Sinn Fein's annual Wolfe Tone commemoration.
Although speakers did not directly to Saturday's bomb in Manchester, a former republican prisoner, Mr John McElhinney, told the crowd the organisation had "no intention of apologising now or in the future for the actions of republican activists, wherever in the world they may act".
His audience included Mr Ruairi O Bridaigh, who set up Republican Sinn Fein 10 years ago when he and his supporters split from Sinn Fein, after its decision to take up any Dail seats it won.
About 15 gardai kept watch on the proceedings from the perimeter of the graveyard.
Mr McElhinney, who served a four year jail term in Portlaoise in the 1980s, criticised Sinn Fein and Mr John Hume for taking part in the "six county English election farce" in Northern Ireland.