Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the North's First Minister Ian Paisley joined each other at the Battle of the Boyne site in Co Meath yesterday in a groundbreaking exercise in celebrating Ireland's "complex, shared" history. Gerry Moriartyand Mark Hennessyreport.
Mr Ahern greeted Dr Paisley and his wife Baroness Paisley yesterday morning outside Oldbridge House, beside the battle site, which was, he said, a "special place for the Protestant, unionist and loyalist people of this island".
Both politicians referred to the rich symbolism of the visit on an occasion that was easy and relaxed.
The Taoiseach accompanied the visitors on a short tour of the house, viewed an exhibition in the courtyard and before speaking to the press, took in a view of the battlefield where, in 1690, a defining year in Irish history, King William defeated King James.
"I welcome that at last we can embrace this battle site as part of our shared history," said Dr Paisley, just three days after he and Sinn Féin MP Martin McGuinness formally agreed to lead a powersharing government at Stormont.
He presented Mr Ahern with a musket, in virtually perfect condition, that is believed to have been carried by an officer who fought for King James at the Battle of the Boyne and a year earlier at the Siege of Derry.
The musket was in exchange for the wooden bowl that Mr Ahern presented to the Paisleys in St Andrews in Scotland in October to mark their 50th wedding anniversary. The fallen walnut tree from which the wood was taken to carve the bowl was visible just a short distance away on the battlefield site.
Having also viewed cannon and cannon balls from the period, Dr Paisley joked about Mr Ahern ensuring that the musket, on loan from Ballymena man, Hubert Brown Kerr, was properly decommissioned before it was put on exhibition at Oldbridge House.
The Taoiseach and First Minister also planted a walnut sapling that was nurtured from the fallen walnut tree. Mr Ahern said they did so "in a spirit of friendship and of mutual respect".
The focus again yesterday was on reconciliation, on acknowledging the past but trying to ensure a better future.
Dr Paisley thanked Mr Ahern for his multi-million euro commitment to develop the site as a tourist facility.
Drew Nelson, grand secretary of the Orange Order, said: "We see this as another step towards reconciliation and a recognition of the British tradition in the Republic of Ireland."
He added, however, that Protestants living along the southern side of the Border still felt isolated and suffered intimidation and sectarianism.
Also present yesterday were other members of the Orange Order and the other loyal orders; DUP ministers Ian Paisley jnr, Arlene Foster and Edwin Poots; DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson; members of the Cabinet Michael McDowell, Dermot Ahern and Noel Dempsey; and Ministers of State Tom Parlon and Mary Wallace.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said the visit by Dr Paisley marked "an incredible thawing" of relations".
Saying that he hoped that symbolic occasions such as yesterday would continue, the Minister said the Government had worked closely with unionists on plans for the Oldcastle lands.
"We also see it as a huge advantage for us. Between May and September of last year, 25,000 people came to visit and it is not even an official site yet, and it is not an authorised site.
"We expect that about 100,000 visitors will come. It is going to be a great spin-off. It is a particularly beautiful area. Lots of people would like to come. I would say at least half, if not more, would be from the North."
The Boyne battlefield, said Mr Ahern, had been a location that "would have been regarded by us in the South with some suspicion. It was a place that we wouldn't come to.
"We did not understand it, to a large extent because that type of history wasn't taught in our schools. But a whole lot of issues have been cured in the recent past.
"We are beginning to understand each other and each other's traditions.
"We might not embrace them fully, but we understand them.It is very different now, and we are thankful for that."