REACTION:THE MEETING between Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Queen Elizabeth II has been sharply criticised by republican groups opposed to the political settlement in Northern Ireland.
The Republican Network for Unity, which previously expressed a willingness to take part in talks with Sinn Féin, said the handshake with the British monarch made such contact impossible.
In a statement, the network said: “The decision of the Sinn Féin leadership to meet the English queen during her Belfast jubilee visit defies all republican logic.”
The statement added: “Martin McGuinness’s decision to give recognition to the English monarch’s place in Irish politics by shaking her hand, deliberately puts clear blue water between his party and the feelings of all genuine republican and socialist activists.”
Under its current leadership, Sinn Féin had “embarked down an undeniable counter-revolutionary road”.
Republican Sinn Féin said a picket it staged at Belfast City Hall yesterday was “in protest against the visit of the commander-in-chief of the British army, the Queen of England, to the occupied six counties”. It said the organisation was happy to see there was opposition not just to the visit but to Mr McGuinness’s action “in shaking the hand of the British queen while her troops remain on Irish soil”.
Republic Sinn Féin’s president Des Dalton said: “The next step for the Provisionals will of course be to sit in the British parliament at Westminster. Their protestations to the contrary ring increasingly hollow.”
The general secretary of Éirigí (Arise), Breandán Mac Cionnaith, said: “Meeting with and recognising Elizabeth Windsor as head of the British state in Ireland is but another step along the disreputable path of reformism.”
