An important first handshake

The first handshake last week between Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness and Queen Elizabeth II was an important moment.

Wed, 04 Jul, 2012 - 01:00

It could not have happened 14 years ago, as feelings were still raw after the end of 30 years of conflict with many killed, injured and having lost loved ones and friends in Northern Ireland and England. Not forgetting the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and our gardai and army personnel killed in the line of duty, the most recent being the killing of Garda Jerry McCabe in Adare, Co Limerick in 1996.

Some have asked what is the big deal. Fine Gael’s Brian Hayes gave his view last week that Sinn Féin were doing a cynical first handshake now — to distract from other issues. He criticised Martin McGuinness for not accepting an invitation to a Dublin Castle State dinner to meet the Queen on her first visit to the Republic last year. He wrote such a handshake should have happened years ago. It couldn’t, as there were big issues, like the second British government enquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday in 1972 to finish, after which British PM David Cameron apologised in 2009. It took an astounding 37 years to resolve it.

Whatever one may think of Martin McGuinness’s past, he was possibly the only one in SF who could make power-sharing work with the DUP’s Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson. Mr Robinson went to his first GAA game in Northern Ireland with Martin McGuinness earlier this year and it was appreciated. It takes time for these gestures to happen. As First Minister and Deputy First Minister, they try to represent all the people of Northern Ireland, while being loyal to their unionist and nationalist roots.

President Robinson shook Gerry Adams’ hand in Belfast on one of her first official visits to Northern Ireland in the early 1990s and was criticised by some. She could see that for any possiblity of a peace process to begin, SF had to be welcomed.

The 1998 Belfast Peace Agreement was one of the most important reconciliation events. Queen Elizabeth’s first visit to the Republic of Ireland in 2011 came from that. The first handshake from a senior SF nationalist in Northern Ireland to a British monarch “is a big deal”, said former US President Bill Clinton. And it was.

M Sullivan

College Road

Cork