Queen to make first state visit to Irish Republic

Queen to make first state visit to Irish Republic

www.bbc.co.uk

The Queen is to pay a state visit to the Irish Republic this year, the first by a British monarch since independence, it has been announced.

The Queen accepted an invitation from the Republic's President Mary McAleese, although no date has been released.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the visit was an indication of a changed time but was "premature".

The success of the Northern Ireland peace process is thought to have made the visit possible.

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This is quite an interesting development, the last visit by a British Monarch to Ireland was in 1911, exactly 100 years ago, and now her Majesty is scheduled for another visit around early summer. Definitely the tensions between these two nations have cooled down significantly or this visit would most definitely not be possible. Hopefully she will receive a positive response in the Republic, although I do suspect many will still be quite angry and frustrated with the Queen due to their losses during the ‘Troubles’.

What are the opinion of British and Irish ATS members?

www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Misoir


In my honest opinion, this makes me nervous.

I regularly visit Eire and have seen evidence of how "raw" some of the UK stuff still is (e.g. calling Londonderry by that name, rather than Derry, can have implications - even in the north). Similarly, there continues to be ongoing incidents that we are not privvy to via the UK msm.

I can't see her being well received in some areas (whether geographically or politically) and I do worry about the implications of that.

Just my 2p.