Taoiseach Enda Kenny has planted an Irish Oak tree on Capitol Hill in Washington DC to commemorate the 1916 Rising.
He took part in the bi-partisan ceremony organised by Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle and Republican Congressman Mick Mulvaney.
Fr Brendan McBride of the Irish Immigration Pastoral Centre in San Francisco blessed the tree along side the US House of Representatives Chaplain Fr Patrick Conroy.
The Taoiseach described the planting of the tree as incredibly significant, focusing on the symbolism of uniting the two countries in such a permanent way.
He said it marked all the Irish people who had moved to the US, put down roots and improved both themselves and the United States as a result.
The Irish oak is a sapling now, but he said he wanted people to walk past it more than a hundred years from now and say “that’s Ireland”.
Congressman Mulvaney said that Irish-Americans were so proud of their heritage that today was “a really big deal”.
Congressman Boyle said it was amazing to think that the 1916 rebels would now be honoured on the same campus as Washington and Jefferson and other American founding fathers.
The idea to organise the tree-planting came from Irish Senator Mark Daly.
There are strict rules governing the planting of new trees on the grounds of the capitol building.
There were no commemorative tree-plantings last year, there was one in 2014 to honour Anne Frank.
But the last international tree-planting ceremony was in 2007 to mark the friendship between the USA and France.
Taoiseach & US Congressmen plant an Irish oak on the grounds of the US Capitol, marking 1916 Centenary. @rtenews pic.twitter.com/Fr5kWDz0sm
— Caitriona Perry (@CaitrionaPerry) May 18, 2016
