The queen in Ireland

Irish, and British, eyes are smiling

Relations between two former antagonists are flourishing

See article

Readers' comments



It is a national task for each Irishman to keep the times of British occupation and anything that happened in their national memory for ever.
Never the Irish should forget what happened to them and the Irish should be aware of the fact that the British did not leave by their own free will.
If the British could, they would still stay as they do stay in Northern Ireland:)

So there is nothing the Irish ever would have to forgive nor will be any reason why the Irish ever should forget.

And the struggle goes on in Northern Ireland where the British still stay as an occupation force.


Poor Germanambassador!

But the Irish never will forget. Neither the bloody Sunday nor all the other British atrocities.
So the Irish have my utmost respect.
And just BTW: Quite different to Britain, Germans are absolutely welcome in Ireland.
In Ireland Germans are treated like friends while in England Germans are used to be treated like enemies:)


I think the Irish never will be able to forgive the British.
Too much happened between these two nations and the Irish never should ever forget what the British were doing to them.
So it is very good if the Irish keep their history alive and tell the next hundred generations of their people what happened between Britain and Ireland.
The British must be reminded for ever at their atrocities they were committing in Ireland.

Each British has been educated over centuries to hate the Germans forever.
Now the British have to get used that the Irish never forget.

And the problem in Northern Ireland which is only caused by the British and their chauvinism is the best proof that the British will never be interested into any reconciliation.

Ireland wil have to fight for a united Ireland and there can only be peace in Ireland when the last British occupation troops have completely left Northern Ireland.

Too long the British have been kicking around the Irish so that the Irish never can forget what happened to them.
The Queen has nothing to do in the Republic of Ireland.

Thomas Byrne

That article was worse than I expected and I expected it to be superficial nonsense. The visit from the British monarch was not historic: Irish people have, at least since, the Famine, suffered from a serious sense of insecurity. We are completely obsessed with how others view us and with being liked (hence the capitulation to the ECB last November).

Thus, it's no wonder that Irish people (or, at least, the intellectually bankrupt Irish political class) crave the attention and approval of a British monarch. It's because we're a half-nation, both literally (2 failed states) and mentally. We have no self-confidence.

The visit supposedly shows how we've 'matured as a nation'. Never mind the fact that we're bankrupt and few of us can speak the native language. We've matured because we're acting just as childishly now as we would have been over 100 years during the last visit.


It is not entirely true that Henry II invaded Ireland uninvited: one of the key prompts for his campaign was the request in 1169 for military support from Diarmait Mac Murchada, who was trying to regain his kingship over Leinster.


Thankfully this visit shows how much the majority of people living on these two islands have moved on from the spiteful and sectarian views held by tiny minded little biggots like Ko94FKTayp. It's exactly these kind of prehistoric opinions held by both sides of the divide that caused so much trouble.


I don't usually have good things to say about the monarchy, but I must say that I was pretty impressed by the parts I heard of one of the Queen's speeches (though it seems possible that she didn't write all of it herself ...).

In the context of the troubled history that links the UK and Ireland, she said (approximately)

"The relationship between our two peoples has not always been straightforward..."

If there were to be a prize for the euphemism of the year, that entry would surely be very well placed. British understatement, what an art form!


Why discriminate against the rest of the world under the multicultural policy currently in place.Maybe she can apologize for Jallianwala Bagh and other atrocities committed around the world under British Imperial rule.


It's a pity she couldn't have come in 2008, the country is much less festive these days. However, she did and fair dues to her for doing it, she didn't have to come.

Although there were some (tiny) protests, the Queen is far more welcome in Ireland these days than, say, a visit from Angela Merkel or Nicolas Sarkozy.

Seeing Barack Obama and the Queen visit Ireland within a week of each other might give pause to the Irish public and reflect on who our friends really are. So much investment comes from the US and so much of our trade is with the UK.


I'm Irish. TBH I don't really care about her visiting. Don't really care about republicanism either.

It is the past, some people want to live in the past. Good luck to them, just don't bring those of using living in the present into your world.

We are happy living in the present.


"The caricature (which was never quite accurate) of the Irish as Europe-loving Brit-haters needs updating."
Indeed. For proof, look no further than the paltry number of people who turned up to protest. Perhaps 100, and a large chunk were drunken teenagers, many of them wearing soccer jerseys from British clubs!

I think public sentiment generally is that this is long overdue and that they seem a lovely couple.


I celebrated this historic occasion along with thousands others here in Ireland. A great taboo has been lifted and increasingly the old boring rhetoric of the past- and those who continue to uphold it- is looking increasingly irrelevant and absurd.
It's not the Queen herself- I'm not a monarchist- but the fact that the Irish and British people are longing for a normal relationship and we're getting there. So many of us have lived on one/both sides of this painful conflict and have longed for warmth, peace, mutual appreciation and finally a bit of love.

It's all about symbolism and that's why the silent majority are celebrating. God save the Queen and long live the Republic!

John Dowdle

From memory, Eire attained full independence in 1949.
His valuable lesson is one we can all learn from when it comes to our own history and culture. One of James Joyce's characters in Ulysses said "History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake." Again, we should all learn from this too.
No one can turn back the hands of time. All we can do is create a new reality, in which all are treated equally and respectfully.
I was born English, though my ancestors were Irish and my late wife was from Ireland.
I now increasingly view myself as a European and World citizen.
We all have to get over narrow nationalist prejudices.
We all have to escape from our historical nightmares.


Ko94FKTayp, if you replaced 'Brit' with Northern Irish & Vice versa in your first paragraph, most of the same would ring true.

Try not to dwell so much on the past eh?


If this was more than a publicity stunt she should have apologized for the terrible wrongs inflicted on the Irish people especially in the North during the troubles. The brits interned without trial, ran murder squads, tortured and killed and treated the Irish as less than human.
However, we saw nothing but grandstanding from the old wench and a massive security cost born by the Irish. Why didn't she pay for this herself since she is one of the richest woman in the world at least she was until they changed the way the royals wealth was counted.


Note that Ireland did not officially gain independence in 1921 but became the "Irish Free State". Full independence came later.


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