English Market recalls queen’s visit as high point in Anglo-Irish relations

Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Cork’s English Market may well have been over a decade ago but today as stall holders and shoppers were still absorbing the news of her death, their thoughts unsurprisingly turned to that sunny day in May 2011 when she was given the warmest of Cork welcomes.

For shopper Sheila Gately from Bishopstown, seeing the queen tour the market visiting the stalls and admiring the produce, marked perhaps a high in Anglo-Irish relations after decades of violence in the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

“I think Queen Elizabeth was very good for Anglo-Irish relations …. we all loved her really, even though we don’t wish to say so, we loved her as a person - I think we should be moving forward now, I know our past has been very painful and all that but it’s only holding us back.

“We were all concerned about the Troubles in the North, but we seemed to have moved on with the Queen’s visit and of course, Mary McAleese was a wonderful president, but I fear Boris has undone all the good work that Queen Elizabeth did and I’ld be similarly worried about Liz Truss.”

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Paul Murphy and his son Alan, fourth and fifth generation butchers at their family stall, Coughlans, equally remember the visit as an overwhelmingly positive day, not just for Cork but for Irish and British relations.

“I think it was the start of things really though Brexit has been a totally different kettle of fish - Brexit was not a good thing for Ireland and I don’t think it’s good for Britain either but that day and that visit, the queen spoke in Irish – she really captured the hearts of the Irish nation,” said Paul.

Nodding towards the exit on to the Grand Parade, Paul continued: “She went out there that day, broke from protocol, ran away from her minders, and went straight across the street to speak to children with special needs – it was a wonderful gesture.”

Recalling subsequent visits to the English Market by other dignitaries including then Prince Charles and Camilla and Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy, Paul was encouraged by Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald’s expression of sympathy.

“I’m optimistic for the future – even Mary Lou spoke very well on TV last night and gave due honour to the lady’s death and I think that was very positive – I think the dark days are gone for Irish people – after all the British are our neighbours and we need them as much as they need us.”

Fellow market stall holder Billy Forrester of Bubble Brothers recalled the bonds that were forged that morning among the stall holders as they all had to come early and go through security and then were waiting for hours, admiring how spick and span the market was as they awaited the monarch.

“The queen’s visit was definitely a remarkable time – there was huge excitement on the day but since then we’ve had Brexit which has been a huge catastrophe for everybody who is trading with the UK and certainly has not helped relations,” he said. “Nearly everybody I deal with in the wine business, sorely regret that decision because it hampers both their business in the UK and their business with Ireland, so I have suppliers with whom I have built relationships in the UK over a decade that I haven’t been able to work with since Brexit.”

Steve Martin from Devon said he watched Queen Elizabeth’s visit to the English Market on TV in 2011 and was pleased to see both photos of the visit in the market and a message of sympathy from Cork City Council when he went online to find out about the market.

“I think she mended a lot of fences and I think Ireland’s respect for the queen improved from that visit – I think the perception of Ireland in the UK also improved – there was huge coverage of the visit on the news at the time and people were delighted with the great reception she got here.”

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Edinburgh native Roddy Henderson offered another perspective on the visit, describing himself as “a Scottish republican and socialist” and, while no fan of the monarchy as an institution, acknowledged Queen Elizabeth’s visit had helped Anglo-Irish relations.

“It was lovely to see her here in Cork as a head of state and any improvement in relations between Ireland and the UK has to be a good thing, but I would hope the queen’s visit isn’t the high point in Irish-British relations, I would look for there to be a closer and closer relationship in the years.

“But it’s always difficult when you have a Tory government in the UK - Liz Truss is banging a very belligerent drum in relation to the Northern Ireland protocol but I don’t think the Tories really have much notion of what life is really like on the island with a border is like.

“I think the welcome the queen got here says a lot to Cork’s humanity that when you are faced with the individual – your politics might be in one camp but the Cork people, when it comes to being personable to people, are very good at just welcoming them as well.

“I would hope that anyone coming to Cork would get a good welcome, royalty or not, however we feel about the politics, if somebody is apolitical – I would hope that we would be welcoming to all sorts here and the queen certainly got that here back in 2011.”