Queen Elizabeth II’s state visit to Ireland will be one of the most historic of the many she has made, and at her Coronation in 1953 would have seemed one of the most improbable the editorial in this week’s leading Roman Catholic journal, “The Tablet states”
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British relations with the Irish Republic were frosty even then, years before the recommencement of the Troubles which had scarred Irish attitudes to the British in the 1920s.
Their reappearance at the end of the 1960s plunged the two countries into a further period of acrimony, ended only by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Even so, memories did not heal quickly. The British monarchy, occupying a position still reserved constitutionally for a Protestant, has long symbolised the religious tension between a nationalist and a unionist sense of identity, where even the words “Irish” and “British” were contentious. Hence the gracious invitation to the Queen from President Mary McAleese was bound to mark a watershed in relations between these two close but often awkward neighbours. It should prove to be a large step towards normality. In her nearly 14 years in office, now coming to an end, President McAleese has earned a high reputation as a reconciler. The timing of the state visit while she is still President is all the more appropriate, therefore, and offers an opportunity for a sincere British appreciation of her unique contribution.
The paradox of this visit is that while the background is extraordinary, it is being approached in almost mundane terms by the Irish Government as a chance to increase tourism and foster trade – the normal currency of such ceremonial state events elsewhere. In the same spirit, the Queen’s itinerary includes such normal activities, for her, as a visit to the Irish National Stud to examine some of the best horseflesh in the world.
Obviously both sides will refer to the troubled history of “our two islands” – the Irish still bristle at references to the “British Isles” – but they will do so as to divisions of the past, forgiven if not forgotten. The most sensitive event will be the Queen’s visit to Croke Park Stadium, Dublin, home of the Gaelic Games and scene of the original Bloody Sunday massacre in 1920 when innocent Irish civilians were mown down by the British military. It is not expected to be the moment for a dramatic apology, but a routine part of the state visit.
Britain and Ireland are intimately linked by faith – English Catholicism will never forget its debt to Irish Catholicism – by a shared civilisation and culture, but, above all, economically. The British Government rightly advanced a substantial loan to the Irish Government when its financial crisis rapidly deteriorated earlier this year, and made clear that this was not only out of self-interest but also solidarity and friendship.
There was a time when national pride in economic success was being hailed as a new and more modern basis for Irish national identity, away from either a narrowly sectarian “Catholic Ireland” identity or one that was simply anti-British. The Celtic Tiger phenomenon has evidently run its course, but neither of these older identities have reasserted themselves. Anglo-Irish fellowship is genuine – and often personal. Whatever they call themselves, these two islands should have a great partnership ahead. It is right that they should celebrate their shared potential as well as remember their shared past.
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/