A Queen in Ireland - Visit will be a milestone to celebrate

THERE are some people in Ireland who will never be happy with the idea that we should extend an invitation to Queen Elizabeth — or any other British monarch — to visit our country.

This hard-line view is a minority position sustained by the cruel reality of our history and a reluctance to look to the future rather than back at that tragic, brutal but unchangeable past. Ireland, like so many countries, suffered subjugation at the hands of British imperialism but time always brings an opportunity for a society to invest in and accept a better tomorrow. Sometimes the price of that opportunity is accepting that great wrongs were done but that those responsible are long gone or, at the very least, no longer enjoy the power that facilitated their wrongdoing.

Another part of that price is recognising that the sins of generations long gone cannot be visited upon their successors. Especially if those successors recognise history’s painful truths and work to address that legacy.