Queen on first state visit to Republic of Ireland

BBC ^ | 5/17/11 | Staff

[mgstarr]

The Queen is set to begin the first visit to the Republic of Ireland by a British monarch.

President Mary McAleese will formally welcome the Queen at her Dublin home.

King George V was the last reigning monarch to visit the country, in 1911, when what is now the Republic was then part of the UK.

The Queen was invited to visit by President McAleese, who will formally welcome the monarch at Aras an Uachtarain, her home in Dublin's Phoenix Park.

The president told state broadcaster RTE it was "an extraordinary moment in Irish history - a phenomenal sign and signal of the success of the peace process and absolutely the right moment for us to welcome onto Irish soil Her Majesty the Queen".

Mrs McAleese said the two countries were "forging a new future - a future very, very different from the past, on very different terms from the past - and I think the visit will send the message that we are, both jurisdictions, determined to make the future a much, much better place."

The relationship between the Crown and Ireland has been one of the longest and most difficult in the history of Britain's monarchy”

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said: "One hundred years on from the last time a British monarch visited Ireland, I think there is a great sense of history and occasion."

He added: "I think the real effect... will be a marker that just as we are solving some of the problems there have been between us in the past, just as we are helping each other through these difficult economic times, now is a great moment for people in Britain and people in Ireland to remember what it is we share."

[Mandingo Conservative]

The English should make them a colony again.

[hosepipe]

Queen of what?.. england is not a monarchy..

[mgstarr]

I can think of a few more countries you could say that about...

[ConorMacNessa]

The Irish should kick their tyrannical asses out of Ulster.

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[Paddyboy]

Ní bheidh Éire unfree a bheith ag an tsíocháin

[agere_contra]

There’d be a lot of dry eyes in England if the Irish left the union and had to pay their own way.

See also: Scotland.

Go on, secede already. Knock yourselves out.

What are you waiting for?

[oh8eleven]

The English should make them a colony again.
WTF - 800 years of subjugation and genocide wasn't enough?
If the feckin' Limeys had any balls and treated their muzzies the same as the did the Irish, they might have a chance to save themselves.

[ConorMacNessa]

I suppose I should thank them for their benevolent and sagacious management of the island during an Gorta Mór - seven of my eight great-grandparents came to America as a result.

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[Crichton]

There’d be a lot of dry eyes in England if the Irish left the union and had to pay their own way. See also: Scotland. Go on, secede already. Knock yourselves out.

The UK would be better off all around splitting up - and don't forget Wales! More local accountability, less collective insanity.

[AU72]

The UK would be better off all around splitting up - and don't forget Wales!

And Cornwall!

[ConorMacNessa]

It'll be a moot issue in twenty or thirty years - the Muslims are outbreeding you and will soon take over.

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[Crichton]

And Manx independence!

[WilliamTells]

More plastic paddies here than in a get together of the Republic of Ireland soccer team!

[La Enchiladita]

The Irish should kick their tyrannical asses out of Ulster.

Kevin Barry~~Wolfe Tones

[La Enchiladita]

If the feckin' Limeys had any balls and treated their muzzies the same as the did the Irish, they might have a chance to save themselves.

Hear, hear, lad!!

[Former Fetus]

Despite bomb, Queen visits Ireland on peace trip