Queen's visit discussed at Áras

THE PROPOSED visit by Queen Elizabeth to the Republic was among the items discussed by Northern Ireland’s First Minister Peter Robinson and Minister for Finance Sammy Wilson over a two-hour working breakfast with President Mary McAleese yesterday.

The breakfast at Áras an Uachtaráin began at 8.30am and continued longer than planned, until 10.20am, when the two Northern Ireland Ministers left to attend the North-South Ministerial Council meeting at nearby Farmleigh House.

Commenting on the breakfast meeting to journalists, Mr Robinson said: “We had a very pleasant engagement this morning. We discussed a wide range of areas.

“We spent an extensive period of time talking about disadvantaged communities.

“She indicated some of the experiences in which she had been involved with communities here and the lessons that might be learned for the kind of work that Martin [McGuinness] and I have been talking about doing in Northern Ireland to those communities that have not benefited to the same extent as others from the . . . peace process.

“We had a brief discussion, obviously, about the potential for a royal visit, which I would welcome, and I hope that the respect that I showed to the head of state here will be shown by others to the head of state from the United Kingdom,” Mr Robinson said.

Asked if he would discourage Sinn Féin members from protesting at the queen’s visit to the Republic, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: “Sinn Féin spokespersons have spoken about that in the course of the last couple of weeks: we’re here today to talk about the work of the North-South Ministerial Council and that’s where I think the focus should be.”