Actually remember the first time I travelled to the 6 counties myself; was in 2002 to an event in Omagh.
Was actually surprised that there was no border!
Had been expecting British troops with guns etc & was extremely nervous…!

I grew up in the troubles. I was used to having guns pointed at me all the time (even as a child of 7-8). It really was a crazy part of the world. Anyone who travels to Israel will know what i am talking about (very similar set-up). As i had grown up in that environment, i really didn’t believe it, when the ceasefires were called in the 1990’s. Really, for anyone who didn’t live it, breathed it, they can never understand what it was like.
I had friends who were killed by the British Army, i also know people who had relatives killed by the IRA.
Its over now. Once this symbolic gesture takes place, we will be able to consign the events to the history books, and hopefully, we will never see its likes again.
Both sides have come a long way to breaching the distrust and fear. Its a great day for the whole Island, not just for the Unionist/Nationalist population in the North

MaevenJohn Hume is a saint!

John Hume didn’t drag Sinn Fein into peace talks, Brendan Duddy did.

Yes but the shinners are bringing the previously extreme republicans with them, and that is a challenge that cannot be underestimated.

Don’t agree PAW, Mary McAleese while a republican like Berty AHern, it is not the same in Marty McG’s case. He was the IRA (although he denies it) senior council, so it is very much a different sense of occassion than Mary or Berty meeting the Queen. This is the IRA meeting and shaking hands with the Queen, sworn enemies for decades!!

Yes, yes, I remember it well.. The days Mary McAleese used to run about Derry, petrol bomb in hand.

Jack Eagle – he doesn’t deny being in the IRA

PAW, it shows how little FF understands how the Irish in the North feel about this event, when you guys come out with comments like this.
But then again, FF haven’t demonstrated any empathy to any section of the Irish population North or South over the last 20 years, it has been all ‘grab what you can, while you can’ politics.
I posted a photo of a little girl on facebook with a sign on her chest… The girl is no more than 4 years old. The sign says “I am already 68.375 euro in debt, and i only own a dolls house, Thank you FF”. I saw it posted and I shared it. Its going viral. People will be living with FFs legacy for generations.

Jack Eagle, Martin McGuinness gave evidence at the Bloody Sunday Tribunal and admitted he was the leader of the Derry Brigade of the IRA, no denials …

@Alan he denies being in the IRA since 1974

@Fiachra KellyMcElroy: Indeed, I don’t deny that this is a positive thing.
Just perplexed that it’s a story that they’ve caught up with Mainstream Ireland 20yrs after the rest of us…?

SF are desperate to portray this as symbolism on the same level as the Queen & Mary McAleese standing, side-by-side, as equals, laying a wreath to the Fallen of 1916. It’s an attempted cynical PR coup that will, in my opinion, fail. Nothing more.

Thats because it is a big deal here in the republican heartlands of Derry- a few (not senior at all) people i know of have said that they may quit if it happens and SF in the North cannot allow room for dissidents for all our sakes. It has to be co-ordinated very carefully otherwise more people may be driven to the dissidents. I find it ridiculous that it has to happen this way but I know that if not, it could be interpreted and twisted to the extreme, which I am sure Sinn Fein are very wary of.

Paul Anthony Ward.
You and your party colleagues should go around shaking the hands of every person in this country for the mess you have created and apologise for turning our country into an economic wasteland.

@ Alan Maguire, I didn’t say he denied being in the IRA! I said he denied being the IRA senior council. Yes Marty McG during the Presidential election admitted being a member of the IRA back in the early 70′s, but then claim he left shortly after. How he left without ending up in a box has never being explained??

It is part of the process that needs to be done for them to achieve power in the North and the South. Power means putting your politics in to action. After 2016. The 2 largest parties in this state will be Fine Gael and Sinn Féin, with Labour and FF both on seats in the teens, ULA 5-6. Can’t see Indo’s still being at 20 though.

Let’s not get too far ahead, Domnic. I agree its about time to put the past where it firmly belongs, in the past! It will be a great historical occassion to see the leader of SF shaking the hand of the Queen, but I don’t think my stomach could take SF as our main govt party………………just yet!!

Finally he has jumped over his own shadow. nWell done.

Let’s not go too far here. The idea of SF gaining popularity in the RoI is enough to make my skin crawl. Bad enough we’re stuck with the likely lads in the North. I’m hoping that once these symbolic acts of peace/unity reach their peak, new political parties in the North may come into existence. And hopefully these parties will not be based on Nationalism, Unionism or religion.. rather how to better the country.

Someone with actual economic experience to manage the budget might be a good idea, for example.

@Maive, The idea of Fine Gael and Labour in Government one more day thats what makes my skin crawl, However I think its very safe to say that very little can stop Sinn Fein from being in government the way the current guys are treating the people its like they’ve forgotten they will have to answer to us one day. Kenny Noonan and co make my skin crawl most of the time anyhoo, spineless self serving quislings normally do though.

What has your Ma’am got to do with this?.

For a Self proclaimed Socialist, you are brown nosing it there. I never saw you refer to Sarkozy as Mon. Le Presidente.

Yep, the entire Irish population will have to count their fingers after electing FFg/Labour into Government. I see the thieves are giving away 1,100,000,000 euro (1.1 billion) to unsecured bondholders next week. That is OUR money. Can anyone on Journal.ie explain if we had any legal requirement to give this money away? If not, its theft on a scale never before seen.

@Cal: This is an aside, but you’re making the same mistake Vincent Browne tore FG’s Eoghan Murphy TD apart for the other night; Fianna Fáil never guaranteed the unsecured bondholders…
This is a decision made exclusively by the FG/ Lab Coalition.

Cal – when we nationalized the banks, that made their debts our debts.

But it was the Guarantee (that SF voted for) that made nationalizing the banks inevitable, as we couldn’t afford to back the Guarantee up in one go. The Guarantee is the root of all our problems.

And btw – don’t forget, it’s only the Seniors we are honouring – the Juniors all got royally burned.

As that falsehood again. Sinn Fein backed the bank guarantee initially but when they found out the banks weren’t being straight and Lenihan extended the terms making it the suicidal blanket guarantee we are now all having to deal with, withdrew their support.

Think of it like agreeing to support a friend by letting him crash with you till he gets back on his feet, then he shows up with all his mates, ready to move in. You agreed to meet thhe initial request but when you found out the p1ss was being taken you withdrew your offer of support.

Now its not as handy a little BS soundbite to bash sinn fein with, but it does rather put the claim in perspective.

Our hands will come?

@ Hugh – your hardly gonna make me type out that rebuttal again?! Fierce tired here…

Brilliant! Maybe comment of the week. :-)

Will she apologize for awarding medals to the Bloody Sunday Paratroopers who bravely shot 14 civilians in Derry, and countless other killers who awarded etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc.

There was a comment in the North from a unionist who noted the reaction to McGuinness in the south during the Prez. election last year. He wondered how people who only watched it on TV, with limited information could still be so intransigent, so bitter and obsessed. Given that he himself had lost a family member, a UDR member shot by the IRA, then it was extra valid.

The people in the North will never understand the horror of the North, when it was viewed up close to the TV in the sitting rooms of Dublin, Cork and Wexford. The Shinnnerbots will never understand that, with their personal memories and family tales. The Unionists seem too quick to forget as well, even if they only lost loved ones as well.

Stand firm South Dublin.

Fagan – you’re not making any sense. Are you trying to say that because you watched the events of the Troubles on t.v., that you have a better understanding of the situation? Lol!

Both sides committed heinous atrocities and both sides honoured their murderous “patriots”, be they IRA members or SAS soldiers. For the greater good of the people of Northern Ireland, and the hope that future generations will grow up loving their neighbour instead of working out how to kill them, peaceful negotiations and meetings like this one with McGuinness and the Queen are necessary.

“Stand firm South Dublin” – give me a break. You have no idea! If you actually had a clue about Northern Ireland and what it’s like to live here, you’d say “let’s do anything to stop everyone killing each other.” The end.

Maeve. I’m saying that the most intransigent opponents of the peace process, the most bitter people in Ireland, are often found in the south of Ireland, especially in South Dublin. Most of the people that fought in it, suffered in it, whether they were IRA. UVF. British Army or RUC have moved on, have worked on ensuring that they never go back to that.

There are many in the south, who are decades away from that.

They experienced it on their TV’s and yet still the bitterness lives on in them, while the people who were there try to move on.

And would we all be Queens subjects in this brave new nation, Hilary?

A fresh start back to 90 years ago. Hilary, London does not even care about the North of England, much of its cities can only be described as an Albania in the 80′s theme park.

You must be more than a little blind, to think that London would all of a sudden care about Ireland.