Northern Ireland's deputy first minister says he would be willing to meet monarch during her Diamond Jubilee year
Sinn Fein deputy first minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness has given his strongest hint yet he is prepared to meet the Queen during her Diamond Jubilee year.
McGuinness said he wanted to be a representative for all the people of the north of Ireland, unionist and nationalist, when asked if he would meet the Queen.
Speaking to Irish public broadcaster RTE on Wednesday, he said: "I think it is important to recognise that I'm deputy first minister for all the people, not just Republicans, Nationalists or those Catholics who think I should be supported in this administration. I want to be deputy first minister for everyone, for the Unionist people, for the Loyalists, for the Protestants, for the dissenters and those who don't believe in anything.
On the Queen's expected visit to Northern Ireland this year, he said: "As regards how we'd deal with the situation, there'll be some dialogue and discussion about what we might have to deal with in the period ahead. I'm sure it'll be done in a civilised and cordial fashion. Obviously, I'd have some of my own ideas of how we should approach such a situation."
On the Queen's historic visit to the Irish Republic last year, he said: "Was I pleased that she spoke Irish at Dublin Castle? I was. Was I pleased that she stood very reverently to honour those who had given their lives in the Easter Rising for Ireland's freedom? I was impressed by that.
"But what was I most impressed with? I was most impressed with her speech in Dublin Castle when she talked about how we could all have wished that things could have been done differently or not at all."
A meeting between the Queen and a senior Sinn Fein official would have been unthinkable even a few years ago. During the Troubles, Sinn Fein and its supporters attempted to disrupt the 1977 jubilee celebrations in Northern Ireland.
The IRA also murdered Prince Charles' uncle Lord Mountbatten in a bomb that also killed a young boy in County Sligo in 1977.