Royal row 'could lead to damaged relations'
MARY McAleese and the Irish government should not be let away with their policy of linking a royal visit to the Republic to the devolution of policing and justice, the Ulster Unionist Party has said.
UUP leader Sir Reg Empey said he would not be letting the matter drop and warned the Dublin administration that it was making "a grave error of judgement" which will "damage" north-south relations.
Meanwhile, UUP MLA David McNarry has submitted four written questions on Irish President Mary McAleese's visit, her meeting with the Queen, and her remarks on policing and justice to the Office of First and Deputy First Minister.
Among the issues he is seeking to address is whether or not OFMDFM was briefed on what Mrs McAleese would say and if it has or will be formally complaining to Irish Premier Bertie Arhen.
Sir Reg said: "As relations between the UK and the Republic have improved, why should there be any conditionality applied to such a visit?
"We are, after all, both members of the European Union, we are at peace, and we are next door to one and other as neighbours with deep-seated historical and family connections.
"In this context, visits by the respective heads of state to each other's countries should be the norm, especially ten years after we settled outstanding constitutional issues.
"Mrs McAleese is able to yo-yo in and out of Northern Ireland all the time.
"What Dublin is doing is deeply offensive and very antagonistic."
With the Irish government having confirmed to the News Letter that its policy is for a royal visit not to take place until policing and justice powers are devolved to Stormont, Sir Reg questioned simply why this politicisation of the visit is necessary.
In an editorial on Friday, one of the Republic's influential daily newspapers said "the only unusual aspect of a visit to the Republic by Queen Elizabeth II, mooted this week after her meeting in Belfast with President McAleese, is that it has not happened yet".
It also warned the Irish government that it is making "the whole issue far more fraught than it needs to be" by still delaying on a visit six years after Mrs McAleese first made an informal invitation to the Queen.
Sir Reg concluded: "Increasingly people are wondering what deals were done at St Andrews, deals that are regularly referred to by Mr Ahern and Gerry Adams.
"I appeal for those who may have been involved in such negotiations at St Andrews to come clean and tell the people what was going on.
"If the Irish government persists with this belligerent attitude with regard to a future royal visit to Dublin, significant damage will be done to Anglo-Irish relations.
"I hope wiser counsel will prevail."
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
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