Timing key to visit by the Queen, says ambassador

A VISIT to Ireland by the Queen is on the cards — it’s just a matter of timing, the British Ambassador to Ireland said yesterday.

Stuart Eldon said the two governments are agreed in principal that a visit should take place.

“But no date has been fixed,” he said. “That will be judged in the light of the circumstances of the time.

“I’m sure it will happen eventually but both governments would want to think carefully about timing.”

Mr Eldon, who was visiting Cork yesterday, said the Queen would never publicly express an interest in visiting a particular country.

However, he said the visit to Dublin on Wednesday by the Queen’s husband, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, to present Gaisce and Duke of Edinburgh awards, symbolised the ways in which both countries can work together.

Mr Eldon was speaking during a courtesy call to City Hall, where he met with Lord Mayor Deirdre Clune and city manager Joe Gavin.

Afterwards, Mr Eldon visited Fusion Building Systems in Ringaskiddy to discuss their major investment plans in England.

Fusion, which was set up in 1998 as an independent subsidiary of the Fleming Group, is Ireland’s largest manufacturer of steel building frames and bathroom and kitchen pods for buildings of up to four storeys.

The firm’s export business to Britain has grown to the point where it has decided to set up a separate production operation in Britain.

Fleming Group managing director John Fleming said he plans to more than double output from the Ringaskiddy plant from 20 steel-framed houses each week to about 50 within 12 months.

The expansion will see the firm employing more than 250 people on its 15-acre site.

Mr Eldon, a former electronic engineer, also visited the Tyndall Institute yesterday where he met its chief executive, Professor Roger Whatmore, a contemporary of his at Cambridge.

“We didn’t know each other at the time but this is an institute I’ve wanted to visit for some time,” Mr Eldon said.