SECURITY IS expected to be tight in Cobh today for the visit of Northern Ireland's First Minister, the Rev Ian Paisley.
Dr Paisley will address the 50th annual dinner of the Cobh and Harbour Chamber of Commerce at the Commodore Hotel in Cobh at 8pm, while he will also visit Cobh Town Council.
Cobh and Harbour Chamber of Commerce chief executive Kathleen Geary said the chamber had in the past attracted significant speakers such as Albert Reynolds, Denis O'Brien and Michael McDowell.
"We made contact with Dr Paisley in February and he confirmed for us in March that he would attend. Cobh would have strong links with the Titanic which was built in Belfast and Cobh was its last port of call before setting off on its ill-fated maiden voyage.
"We commemorated the 96th anniversary of the tragedy earlier this year and, given our ongoing preparations for the 100th anniversary in 2012, we felt that it was important to strengthen our links with Belfast, so we decided to invite Dr Paisley to Cobh."
Ms Geary said that the decision to invite Dr Paisley had led to no adverse reaction among the chamber's membership, and it was only in the past few days that they had learned of the planned protest by dissident republicans.
"A lot of people here feel that it's time to move on and with the Titanic connection that we should be working to foster ties with Belfast," said Ms Geary. She said about 200 people were expected to attend the dinner tonight at the Commodore.
Donal Varian, chairman of the MacCurtin-MacSwiney cumann of Republican Sinn Féin in Cork, said the party was organising a public protest at Dr Paisley's visit and it had been contacted by members of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement about the protest.
Mr Varian said that as a member of Cobh and Harbour Chamber of Commerce, he had not been consulted about the proposed visit and he rejected Ms Geary's suggestion that people wanted to move on. He said people were entitled to public and peaceful protest.
"As far as we are concerned, forgetting occupation is not a means of moving on," he said