Major tourism potential of royal visit hailed
IRISH tourism is due to receive a major boost in 2011 and beyond — thanks to the visit of Queen Elizabeth II later this year.
Lauding the tourism potential of the event, industry chief Niall Gibbons said the event would provide a wonderful opportunity to showcase the island of Ireland to a huge audience of potential holiday-makers across Britain
Chief executive of Tourism Ireland Mr Gibbons said there would be a large media contingent travelling to Ireland to cover the visit and this would bring the story to millions of people in Britain and elsewhere around the world.
Bobby McDonagh, Ireland’s Ambassador to London, said the visit reflects the depth and the warmth of the British Irish relationship and the extent to which it has developed in recent years.
“The friendship between our two islands and between our peoples has never been closer politically, economically or culturally,” he said.
“The visit will provide an excellent opportunity to celebrate what has been achieved, notably the successful and sustained peace in Northern Ireland which has been made possible by the close partnership between the British and Irish Governments.”
The leader of Fianna Fáil Micheál Martin also welcomed the news.
“This is in many ways a further milestone in the transformation of relationships between our countries that has been ongoing for many years and will act as another step in the journey of reconciliation.
“Britain is our nearest neighbour and our largest trading partner and there are many ties between the people of our two countries. This visit 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.”
Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott said the visit was an example of the increasing normalisation of relations between two neighbouring sovereign states and it should be welcomed by all in society.
Outgoing Taoiseach Brian Cowen said he wanted to see the official engagement before President McAleese leaves office after a second seven-year term in November.
Mr Cowen had said a state visit by the Queen and a return trip to Britain by an Irish president would be part of the normal courtesies enjoyed by friendly, neighbouring states.
However, although Sinn Féin said the party was in favour of the normalisation of relationships between Ireland and Britain, he called the visit “premature”.
A date for the visit has not been released but it is widely expected to be in May shortly after the royal wedding of the Queen’s grandson William to Kate Midleton.
The Queen will be following in the footsteps of her grandfather George V, who travelled to the country in 1911, before independence.
A Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister is delighted that Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting Ireland. “The visit symbolises the strength of the relationship between our nations and the bond between the British and Irish people,” he said.
King George V’s tour came 10 years before the country was partitioned creating Northern Ireland and the Republic.
The bitterness caused by the move and the use of the British Army in the Troubles in Ulster, strained relations on both sides of the Irish sea for much of the 20th century.
The Queen also suffered her own personal loss when her cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten was killed by an IRA bomb blast on his boat in Ireland in 1979.
But the success of the peace process in Northern Ireland has greatly eased tensions between the two nations and ultimately led to the visit being able to take place.
