Mayor invites queen to Lismore during visit

THE MAYOR of Lismore has extended a public invitation to Queen Elizabeth to visit the west Waterford town as part of her possible itinerary if she visits Ireland next year.

Bernard Leddy of Fianna Fáil said he believed a visit by the queen would be of huge economic benefit in terms of helping to promote tourism in Lismore.

The visit of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles to Lismore in 2004 had helped attract a large number of visitors to the town.

They had been invited by the Duke of Devonshire and stayed at Lismore Castle, which would be an ideal setting from a security point of view for a similar visit by the queen, he said.

“Lismore received tremendous publicity at the time. For four days, Lismore was in all the national papers and TV as well as international media because of the visit of Prince Charles.

“And even today, the staff at our heritage centre tell me that visitors, and not just British visitors, still ask where they stayed. It was a really public relations success for Lismore.”

Mr Leddy said that irrespective of people’s views of the institution of the British monarchy, the fact remains that Ireland had historic and cultural ties with the UK.

“The country within the European Union with the largest number of Irish citizens outside of Ireland is the UK. Millions of Irish people have found refuge and employment there.”