Republican I.R.A. Meets The Queen

 Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is expected to meet Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness in Belfast later today.

Mr McGuinness has said his meeting with the British monarch will begin another phase of the peace process.

He said meeting the Queen was his way of extending the hand of friendship and reconciliation to the unionist population.

The Deputy First Minister is expected to meet and shake hands with Queen Elizabeth at an function in the Lyric Theatre in Belfast.

The cultural event has been organised by the cross-border body Co-Operation Ireland, and will also be attended by President Michael D Higgins and the Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson.

The event is not part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations here.

They conclude this afternoon on the grounds of the Stormont estate, where 20,000 well-wishers are due to attend a garden party for the Queen.

It is expected that no journalists will be allowed into the theatre with the Queen and Mr McGuinness, although a photographer may be admitted.

Alan McBride, who lost his wife and father-in-law in the Shankill bomb in 1993, said today is hugely significant for Irish-British relations.

Mr McBride said today’s handshake is another step along the road to “normalisation” in the North, which he said is long overdue.