Queen 'will visit Ireland soon'

The Queen may be preparing to make an historic visit to the Irish Republic in the near future, it was claimed today.

As she travelled to Northern Ireland for a series of engagements, sources close to the Irish Government said they believed Buckingham Palace could be getting ready to give the all clear for a trip south of the border for the first time.

Nearly all senior members of the Royal family, including the Duke of Edinburgh who accompanied her today, have been to the Republic.

A source said today: ‘‘It has been clear for some time that a visit by the Queen will happen - and that it will be sooner rather than later.

‘‘Now that the Northern Ireland peace process is back on track, the conditions are right - about as good as they have ever been - so some kind of movement on that front can be expected.

‘‘The logistics of arranging such a ground-breaking event will be huge, though, so it may not happen over night.’’

A visit by the Queen to Dublin would mark the first by a reigning British monarch to the Irish Republic since the country achieved independence from rule by Britain nearly 80 years ago.

Today is the 16th anniversary of the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement by the former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the then Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.

A planned visit by the Queen to Northern Ireland earlier this year had to be postponed because of the foot-and-mouth emergency.

As part of her round of engagements today she is expected to meet the First Minister at the Northern Ireland Assembly David Trimble and the Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan, of the nationalist SDLP.

Ian Paisley Jnr, a member of his father’s Democratic Unionist Party at the Stormont Assembly said a Royal visit to the Republic was a matter for Buckingham Palace.

He said: ‘‘In terms of Anglo-Irish relations, I don’t think it will make a button of difference whether she goes there or not.

‘‘Obviously if the Republic was to extend an invitation, then I’m sure the Queen would be gracious enough to accept it. The ball is very much in Dublin’s court.’’