McGuinness may meet Queen

There is speculation this morning that Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness will shake hands with Britain's Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Northern Ireland next week. Mr McGuinness has been invited to attend an event with the Queen during her Northern Ireland visit next week. The invitation by a major cross-Border charity comes after speculation the senior republican may hold an historic first meeting with the Queen. Sinn Féin previously said it had yet to be presented with a “doable proposition” over such an encounter. Now Co-operation Ireland has announced it is to host an event for the Queen and President Michael D Higgins next Wednesday to celebrate the arts and culture across the island. It said: “We are inviting the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to join us.” Sinn Féin’s leadership will meet in Dublin this morning to make a decision on the invitation. A venue for the event has yet to be confirmed. It had been believed that plans for a 20,000-strong celebration of the Queen’s reign, to be held at Stormont during the Queen’s two day visit, made it more difficult for republicans to hold a meeting there. But an engagement involving not only the Queen, but also President Michael D Higgins, could provide a more acceptable backdrop for Sinn Féin. Co-operation Ireland works to build bridges between divided communities on the island. It said: “Co-operation Ireland is organising an event in Belfast next Wednesday, June 27th, bringing together the joint patrons and a small number of guests to recognise and celebrate the transformational strength of the arts and culture across the community in Northern Ireland and throughout Ireland.” Sinn Féin Newry and Armagh MP Conor Murphy told the BBC the party’s ruling council was to make a decision in Dublin today on the meeting. “We have a responsibility to contribute to genuine reconciliation and we always were prepared to consider a genuine proposition and we have one on the table,” he said. “We wanted to ensure we were part of a genuine reconciliation, not some sort of PR exercise but something which has a meaning and can make a contribution to the peace process and can contribute to bringing communities closer together.” He said Sinn Féin had been consulting its members for the last 48 hours and there was a broad range of views on the proposition. He acknowledged the loss of Lord Mountbatten in an IRA bomb during the conflict and said the meeting would have more significance when those on both sides have experienced loss. Mr Murphy said there are significant challenges for Irish republicans with the Queen’s status as head of the armed forces but he said the meeting was about recognising the contribution the Queen made during her visit to Ireland last year when she visited Dublin’s garden of remembrance.