Queen’s visit will conclude centuries of divisions, claims Taoiseach
On his first visit to Downing Street, Mr Kenny thanked David Cameron for the “strength and the power” of his apology following the Saville Inquiry into the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings.
But he “reminded” the prime minister that because the arrival of the queen on May 17 coincides with the anniversary of the bombings “there may be a small measure of protest arising from that”.
He said he told Mr Cameron that “we don’t want a situation where we have endless open-ended inquiries and that there are a great number of sensitive issues that need to be very carefully considered”.
He said the vast majority of Irish people will welcome very warmly the visit of the queen to Ireland.
“The fact that the queen will visit both the Garden of Remembrance in Ireland and Islandbridge, which has direct links with World War I and so on speaks for itself,” he said.
“I see this visit as being the conclusion of so many years and centuries of division and divisiveness and it puts up that pillar that we now build on for the future in building on the absolutely incredible links between Ireland and Britain for so many years.”
In a 40-minute meeting in Downing Street, Mr Cameron said Britain had made a €3 billion loan available to Ireland as part of the €85bn bailout package from the EU and IMF.
Mr Kenny did not seek a reduction on the interest rate of the loan, but stressed Ireland has not yet drawn down any of the money promised from Britain.
“The drawdown won’t occur until later in the year at which stage the Minister of Finance may well have concluded the decision they have to make in respect of the EU/IMF deal and obviously any reduction anywhere would be welcome,” he said.
In a visit to Bloomberg TV in the city earlier, Mr Kenny revealed a credit insurance scheme would be included in next month’s jobs budget, allowing, freeing up more lending to small businesses.
Mr Kenny also insisted that Ireland will not default.
“We have no intention of defaulting. We’ve made that perfectly clear. We want to continue to pay our way,” he said. Describing the loans as too severe, he said: “We’re not looking for more money from Europe, we’re looking for greater flexibility.”
