Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has given a strong indication he may be prepared to meet Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.
The Queen is expected to visit Northern Ireland during this, the 60th year of hear reign.
Last May, Mr McGuinness declined an invitation to attend a function at Dublin Castle when the Queen made a State visit in May last year.
Speaking in an RTÉ interview yesterday, Mr McGuinness said any decision would be a matter for his party, but he wanted to be seen as a representative of all the people in Northern Ireland.
“I want to be a Deputy First Minister for everybody – for the unionist people, for the Loyalist people, for the Protestants and for the dissenters and for those who don’t believe in anything.”
Commenting on Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Ireland last year, Mr McGuinness said he was “pleased” that she spoke Irish in Dublin Castle.
“Was I pleased that she had stood very reverently, honouring those that lost their lives in the Easter Rising for Ireland’s freedom? I was impressed by that.”
He said he was most impressed by her speech at Dublin Castle “when she talked about how we all have wished that things could have been done differently or not at all”.