Queen pays one-day visit to Province

The Queen has paid a one-day visit to Northern Ireland accompanied by her husband the Duke of Edinburgh.

They attended a number of events, which began in County Londonderry on Thursday morning. It is the Queen’s first visit to the province since April last year when she awarded the George Cross to RUC officers at a ceremony in Hillsborough Castle.

In Londonderry, the Queen was greeted by Northern Ireland Secretary of State John Reid, the Lord Mayor Mildred Garfield, and representatives of the local council.

The Queen’s first port of call was the Maydown Ebrington Centre, which opened in February this year to help promote the social and economic well-being of the local community and to develop relations with the Republic of Ireland.

The royal party was entertained by youth and adult drama and dance groups during their visit to the centre.

The Queen then met with Stormont’s First and Deputy First Minister at Hillsborough Castle later on Thursday afternoon. Afterwards the Queen then travelled to nearby Lisburn, where she opened the council's new offices and civic centre the Lagan Valley Island complex.

Commenting on visit of the Queen Sinn Féin Deputy Chief Whip Conor Murphy said the Queen is “the head of state of a country that claims sovereignty over a part of Ireland which as Irish republicans we dispute and are committed to ending. In light of this Sinn Féin members have no intention or desire to meet with the British Monarch.”

However, Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan, the leader of the nationalist SDLP, said on Thursday: “I have no problem meeting anyone, meeting heads of state or anyone else. It might be that some people will try to make advantage or make play against me for the fact that I will be meeting the Queen.

“But I would hazard to predict that those who do that, at a future date, would be more than happy to meet the Queen or her successor, probably at an event in Dublin.” (AMcE)