Unionists call on McAleese to apologise

UNIONISTS yesterday demanded an apology from President Mary McAleese for linking a visit by Queen Elizabeth II to the Republic to the transfer of policing and justice powers to the Stormont power-sharing executive.

After meeting the queen in Belfast on Wednesday, President McAleese said: “I think the day [of the first visit by a monarch] is significantly closer.

“We know that it is dependent on the completion of devolution, which hopefully will not be too far away. That means the return of policing and criminal justice responsibility to the executive in the north.