Timing of royal visit is not appropriate

ALTHOUGH still unconfirmed, it is widely anticipated that Queen Elizabeth II will arrive in Ireland on May 17 to commence her state visit here.

If this is the case, then those responsible for selecting this date have acted with either appalling insensitivity or callous indifference.

It was on May 17, 1974 that 33 innocents were blasted into oblivion and more than 300 others suffered horrific injuries on the streets of Dublin and Monaghan in the biggest mass murder in modern Irish history.

Following the Commission of Investigation into these bombings, Mr Justice Henry Barron said that “it is neither fanciful nor absurd” that members of the British security forces in Northern Ireland could have been involved in these bombings.

These findings were endorsed by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights. Seeing as Queen Elizabeth is head of all British armed forces, would those with responsibility for arranging this visit have some regard for those that have suffered the loss of their loved ones in these bombings and find a more appropriate date to indulge her majesty.

Tom Cooper

Knocklyon

Dublin 16