Envoy’s absence a setback to good relations

I SEE the new British prime minister David Cameron, along with the incoming secretary of state for Northern Ireland Owen Paterson, have endorsed a proposed visit by Queen Elizabeth to the Republic sometime during the new British government’s term of office.

In his first interview as prime minister on matters relating to Ireland, Mr Cameron said he wished to see “very good relations between Britain and the Republic of Ireland”.

These good relations alluded to by Mr Cameron suffered a sizeable setback when the British ambassador to Ireland, Julian King, failed to attend the Great Famine commemoration in Co Mayo recently. Was it a considered decision or just political incompetence that the representative of the state that ruled, or perhaps misruled, Ireland during the famine years, despite a formal invitation, felt unable to attend the commemoration of the catastrophe which saw Ireland lose 2.5 million of her poorest children to starvation and emigration? This famine happened despite an abundance of food and despite Ireland being an integral part of the wealthiest and most powerful empire in the world.