McAleese cancels planned visit to loyalist Shankill Road

President Mary McAleese has cancelled plans to visit the loyalist Shankill Road in Belfast this week following her comments about Protestant sectarianism at the recent Auschwitz commemoration in Poland.

Local unionists had asked Mrs McAleese to postpone the visit after the controversy surrounding her comparison of Protestant sectarianism to Nazi hatred.

The President has apologised for comparing the Nazi hatred of Jews to the hatred of Catholics instilled in Protestant children in the North.

Unionists have accepted the apology, but have also said that it is too early for her to be welcomed back into the Shankill Road.

Mrs McAleese was due to stop off in the loyalist stronghold as part of a trip to the city on Thursday.