Firefighters in Galway marked the September 11th anniversary yesterday with a minute's silence.
Up to 20 members of the brigade, which is responsible for Galway city and county, took part in the ceremony outside the station.
At about 1.45 p.m. the members on duty filed out and stood in line in front of their tenders, one of which bore photographs of firefighters who had died in the World Trade Centre.
The two flags flying over the station, the national flag and the station flag bearing the brigade's coat of arms, were lowered to half-mast.
Mr John Philbin, the station master, said that some of those firefighters lost on September 11th had visited the Galway station over the years.
"We have close links with New York, and also very close links with Boston," he said.
The Galway brigade is taking part in next year's St Patrick's Day parade in Boston.
A US firefighter, Mr Bob Cullen, who is a member of the New Fairfield Fire Department in Connecticut, witnessed the ceremony and said he was very happy to be there.
A colleague of his, Mr Chris Blackwell, who was part of Rescue 3 in the Bronx, died in the September 11th disaster.
