Handshake with Queen ‘the right thing to do’

Martin McGuinness will shake hands with Queen Elizabeth in Belfast next week after the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, declared it was “the right thing to do”.

The handshake between the former IRA commander and the commander-in- chief of the British army will mark another milestone in the peace process.

Mr Adams said he accepted the decision would cause “genuine and understandable difficulties for some people, not least some of the victims of British Crown forces in Ireland”.

However, he said the “decision is the right thing to do at the right time”.

He also acknowledged the move required significant generosity of spirit from the Queen, whose cousin, Lord Mountbatten, was murdered by the IRA in 1979.

The meeting will take place behind closed doors at a cross-border cultural event in the Lyric Theatre next Wednesday.

The event is being hosted by peace-building charity Co-operation Ireland. It will be attended by President Michael D Higgins, Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland first minister, and guests.

The way was cleared for the event yesterday after a meeting of the 42-member Sinn Féin ard comhairle in Dublin.

Although there had been behind-the-scenes talks for weeks, Sinn Féin sought to stress the process had been difficult and the decision not unanimous.

Party sources indicated the leadership would not have agreed to a meeting at any event marking the Queen’s jubilee. The cross-border nature of the Co-operation Ireland event had been deemed acceptable.

Mr Adams denied Sinn Féin was playing “catch-up” with public mood following the welcome afforded to the Queen on her Irish visit last year. Fianna Fáil said it was “bemused” by the news.