SO the seemingly endless speculation and conditioning on a visit to the Republic of Ireland by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has come to pass.

ON Sunday, August 17, in the company of the Mayor of Kilkenny at Rothe House in one of his final official engagements in this State, the British ambassador to Ireland Mr David Reddaway raised the political temperature somewhat by referring to the ‘imminent’ visit to the Republic of Ireland by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.

RESPONDING to my letter (January 14) in which I expressed the view that a State visit to the Republic by Queen Elizabeth would be inappropriate at this time, David Cotter (January 22) invites me to “look closer to home at our undemocratic Senate”, implying that it is as undemocratic as the British monarchy.