The Queen She'll Come To Call On Us

Grey

Grey

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President Mary McAleese has announced Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has accepted an invitation to visit the Republic later this year.
While the dates of the visit and the programme have yet to be announced by the Áras and Buckingham Palace, it is expected to take place over three days in May.
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So which two of the five days days of Punchestown will she miss?

Seriously though, I'm pleased this is happening.
 
"One found that most amusing. One particularly loved the bugle announcing a safe landing - how charming. One must have one installed in the coach for Wills' wedding - what larks!"
 
QUEEN Elizabeth is to make an official visit here in the summer, the first by a British monarch since the foundation of the State.
The announcement was warmly welcomed by all of the political parties last night, except Sinn Fein, which said such a visit was premature.
Already, dissident republican groups are planning street demonstrations and senior garda anti-terrorist officers have started drafting contingency plans for the queen's security.

The announcement by President Mary McAleese ended months of speculation and was described as a watershed in Irish-British relations.
The queen's grandfather, King George V, was the last serving monarch to visit the country 100 years ago when Ireland was part of the UK. He spent six days in Dublin in 1911.

The visit by the queen, who will be accompanied by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, is not expected to be as long and will probably last for a couple of days near the end of May, according to informed sources last night. It is expected to include one trip outside Dublin.
It is likely that garda leave will be cancelled for a large portion of the force during her stay here.
The visit will result in the biggest VIP protection operation for more than two decades.

Officers are particularly concerned that the visit could be used by terror groups to stage an attack.
Another announcement is due to be made shortly to clarify the details of the visit.
Mrs McAleese said last night that these would be announced jointly by Aras an Uachtarain and Buckingham Palace.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen said it was very important that Ireland and Britain developed relationships in the 21st Century, having overcome the difficulties that existed in the past century.
He said the visit had been spoken about in the context of the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and the need for exchange visits between the heads of state of neighbouring countries.

Diaspora
Mr Cowen added: "She will be a welcome guest and we will ensure that there's a very fruitful exchange when she comes.
"We need to put the relationship between Britain and Ireland on a new footing to explore what we have in common.
"There's a very strong Irish diaspora in Britain and it's important that we develop relations," he added.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said he looked forward to this historic visit, which would be warmly welcomed by the vast majority of Irish people.
And Labour leader Eamon Gilmore described it as a "maturing" step in the relationship between the two countries.

"It was inevitable that she would come and visit Ireland," Mr Gilmore said at a meeting of European socialists in Athens.
"She's the head of a neighbouring state and I think this is a big and important step."
Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin believed the visit would act as another step in the journey of reconciliation.

"It is an endorsement of the peace strategy, pursued by Irish and British governments over a number of decades and will be a catalyst for further enhancements in north/south and east/west co-operation to the economic, social and cultural benefit of all.
However, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said the visit was premature and would cause offence to many Irish citizens, particularly victims of British rule and those with legacy issues here and in the North.
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Good to see. Unfortunately, events like this and Celtic Rangers games show there are a lot of knobs in Ireland.
 
Then why are the Irish, as against "British" Irish, in such a plentiful supply in Her Madge's kingdom? Surely they'd be staying at home if they thought 'victims of British rule' would be offended by their deserting of their beloved homeland for the oppressor's. Time to move f-o-r-w-a-r-d-s, Mr Adams, as the young people going from your country to the UK presumably feel. The present and the future shouldn't be begrudgingly tainted by past spites and cruelties - on any side. Perhaps, like many people who fought for what they believed in, he's locked into his glory days and isn't coping with forward political and social momentum? A bit like Qaddafi, then.
 
However, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said the visit was premature and would cause offence to many Irish citizens, particularly victims of British rule and those with legacy issues here and in the Nor
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Wasnt so concerned about victims of violence,( which unlike the queen he directed), against UK citizens when he came over as a "guest" of racist Ken
 
The current talk, reported in the Irish Times, is that the following locations will be on Her Maj's itinerary in Dublin next month.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_of_Remembrance_(Dublin)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croke_Park
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_National_War_Memorial_Gardens

The Garden of Remembrance is a memorial, opened in 1966 on the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, to all those who gave their lives for the cause of Irish freedom.

Most of you will have already heard of Croke Park and its history, site as it was of the original Bloody Sunday when British soldiers entered the pitch and fired on the crowd in reprisal for the murders of a dozen British agents that morning.

The National War Memorial Gardens are dedicated to the Irish people who fought in the Great War (WW1). They were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who was also one of the main architects responsible for the design of the many British memorials and military cemeteries in Flanders.

If the talk is correct, that is quite an itinerary. It seems the queen intends to address the more difficult aspects of our shared past head on, and that her visit will be no sideshow.
 
Bloody pathetic when the 'shared history' consists of knocking three shades o'shite out of each other. All the visits are to do with death, more deaths, and even more deaths. Hasn't she and the dignitaries got something more upbeat to do - all this seems to me to do is show to the watching world that our relations with Ireland are still mired in past and, thanks to the most recent atrocity, present acrimony.

With the latest 'street demonstration' consisting of blowing a young Catholic policeman to Kingdom come, the country looks resolutely stuck in its past and these places of visit, no matter how earnest the intent, add to the feeling that's the only place Ireland wants to remain.
 
Today, according to the BBC report, Peter Robinson attended his first ever Catholic funeral. Also there were the other main political leaders from the North as well as the President and Taoiseach from the South. Nothing can make it clearer that Ireland does not want to remain in the past.

Regarding the Queen's itinerary, it will have been planned jointly. This is not a matter of making her visit certain sites in order to rub her nose in the past, it is a matter of her choosing to go to these sites as a gesture of reconciliation. If it happens it will be highly significant. Blair's apology for the famine was a superficial and embarrassing gesture by a PR addict, but a gesture like this by the Queen would completely outweigh anything that a Blair or Cameron could do.
 
You really think so, Grey? You're sure it wouldn't look like the wicked English lording - or queening - it over the Irish again? On the other hand, as she attempts a tightrope walk of diplomacy, I don't suppose she'll make any references to WWII and Mr de Valera's juggling act of home appeasement in denying British merchant ships a shorter trip to the Atlantic, resulting in the loss of hundreds of vessels to German U-boats. No, she won't, because we'll just brush that under the carpet of diplomacy and pretend that never happened. In the interests of entente cordiale an' all that bosh. If there are hands to be wrung, then they need to be wrung all round - but they won't be. The strong whiff of the hypocrisy you mentioned elsewhere, no?

That's what I don't like about this heavy emphasis on the war dead - which also resonates with our discussion on Libya's possible recompense to victims of the IRA. Ireland's too broke right now, but when the country recovers enough, would it like to compensate today's families of the merchant sailors whose deaths the (then Irish government's) action quite knowingly caused, do you think?

When does all this stuff stop? Remembrance and contrition make uneasy bedfellows, I feel.

Clivex, that's the beauty of this forum! We can expose the entrails of all kinds of subjects in a way that we often can't with friends (who'd be bored rigid or would rather watch The Cube), yet it's only yatter, for all we might become a little heated at times. Heated is good - it shows blood still courses in our veins. Personal insults just show a lack of imagination.
 
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I think thats why the visit is to a ww1 memorial rather than the ww2 memorial (which had controversy surrounding it i recall). Not a time to ressurect Hitler admirer De valeras contribution

I presume these aremnt the only places shes visting otherwise it would definately seem a bit wallowing and maudlin. Is she seeing some of contempary Ireland? An overgrown empty new build housing estate maybe?

These apologies are a bit ridculous at times. Never forget racist Kens "apology on behalf of all londoners" for slavery and his laughable crocodile tears. Wanker...

The slavery bit is overdone anyway. Every time ive seen them on the tele theyre happily singing away so it wasnt all that bad
 
Krizon , This visit is a very healthy thing, addressing the issues of the past allows them to be finally put to bed. Ireland as a whole is moving forward as already referenced yesterday. A truely historic gesture with leaders from both sides of the community showing solidarity.

would it like to compensate today's families of the merchant sailors whose deaths the (then Irish government's) action quite knowingly caused, do you think?
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The Irish did not torpedo the British Ships. The British where more of a threat to us than the Germans where at the time. Ireland did not owe the the British anything. It was not as black and white as we know it to be now (Hitler Bad, Allies good) In short, you stretched your point too far.
 
What complete bollocks. Unbelievable rubbish

If Britain had not held off Germany then Ireland would have fallen (although that would have been welcomed by some there) immediately. It would have been a formality and you would have been under Nazi rule in no time at all

Thats why thousands of irishmen fought in that war.

You really think that after the treaty Britain was more likely to reinvade ireland than Germany was ?

Perhaps if leaders are oblged to address "matters from the past" its about time Gerry Adams made visits to guildford and birmingham isnt it? Persnally i would rather he didnt
 
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Indeed, Sheikh, the Irish didn't torpedo British ships. Apart from the fact they couldn't, they didn't need to - they disallowed access around the south coast and forced the merchant navy farther out into the Atlantic where they could be torpedoed very neatly by the Germans. I don't think I've stretched any point, let alone too far. Dem's de facts, like 'em or not. Of course, if one is absolutely, scrupulously fair, de Valera did permit the hushed-up overflight of one plane to spy out the position of the Bismarck. You might've had something to worry about from the Germans if they'd found that out at the time.

As for the British (for that, really read 'English') being more of a threat to you than being overtaken by Nazism, should Britain have failed to defend its shores, I could nearly laugh.

Clivex - we don't always see eye to eye, but I can't fault you on that riposte.
 
Indeed, Sheikh, the Irish didn't torpedo British ships. Apart from the fact they couldn't, they didn't need to - they disallowed access around the south coast and forced the merchant navy farther out into the Atlantic where they could be torpedoed very neatly by the Germans.I don't think I've stretched any point, let alone too far. Dem's de facts, like 'em or not.
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Yes indeed that is the fact. Ireland disallowed access to its waters to a State which was a greater risk to its Independence than the Germans. One which was closer than Germany and which had just been removed after 800 years or so. Whether I like it or not is irelevant it's just a fact.

As for the British (for that, really read 'English') being more of a threat to you than being overtaken by Nazism, should Britain have failed to defend its shores, I could nearly laugh.

Clivex - we don't always see eye to eye, but I can't fault you on that riposte.
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Last time I checked, it was the British army not the English army, not sure what your on about there. Yes of course the Nazi's would have over run Ireland if they had taken Britain. Dev's refusal to allow British access to Irish waters was an effort to keep Ireland out of harms way and the two fingers to a recently departed enemy. The issue of neutrality is still a contentious issue in this country.

You will of course have no way of seeing this issue from an Irish perspective but I did expect a bit better from you than condoning the usual abusive hate filled comments from that other individual.
 
Sheikh said:
Dev's refusal to allow British access to Irish waters was an effort to keep Ireland out of harms way and the two fingers to a recently departed enemy.
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What I'm interested in is if the Irish had stauchly supported the allies in WW2 what difference would it have made to relations between Ireland and other countries (including) Britain after the war?

If the answer is 'not much' then I guess from an Irish perspective the republic doesn't really have much of a case to answer in terms of how it managed it's own sovereignty's position, sheikh?
 
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