Government minister attacks Sinn Fein plan to shake hands with Queen Elizabeth

@seanomelb i am glad our queen wore gloves as the smell of semtex would have been hard to get rid of. I admit the later semtex had no smell but the older stuff martin used would have reefed. Hes the son of Osama Bin Laden. If he had carried out the same in many countries (USA) he would have been receiving the electric chair after a little water boarding. They will never be peace as long as he and supporters like @seanomel are alive and breathing. Your a proper W**KER @seanomel.

McGuinness is shaking the hand of his Queen. Nothing of much note there. Since he's doing nothing else he's desperate for media coverage of the handshake since there's nothing else for him to get media coverage of.

I can believe you all will fall for this crap England is still trying to control us the Americans kick there ass and show the way keep fighting until we are free.

with people like him no wonder Ireland ended up in a mess.its better to shake hands.the origin of a hand shake is to show there is no weapon.long may that continue,surely no one wishes a return to the days of fear,bloody murder,bombings shootings,internment,as long as there is justice and equal opportunity?give peace a chance.

mcdolan, the people you are talking about are not Irish. They are American. The average person on the street in Ireland are glad that finally people will grow up and move on.

What a sad lot of naysayers Betsy will do her duty as she is told to by the P.M. and Martin will shake her blood soaked hand.

@FallsRNat: the outcome of the next Irish election will be a lot more interesting after this dont you think??

It is a publicity stunt, they totally misjudged the Queen's visit to Ireland, thinking that there would be mass demos against her visit, the Irish people are better than that, they repaid her visit with a warmth that augers well for the British Isles peoples whether they live in Eng, Sco, Wal, Uls or SI. SF are pushing the hanshake as some sort of recognition of their insideous little war, when in fact she has shaken so many hands of dictators, also 1 who sits in the Ulster govt & takes her queen's shilling, the people of ireland, North & South are not fooled by this play acting

That's NOT what the Minister said. He said McGuinness was making much ado about nothing to get media attention. He DIDN'T say McGuinness shouldn't meet the Queen. McGuinness' hype has been going on for months about a non-issue. Sinn Fein is being investigated in Ireland for misuse of expenses money and may have to repay 500,000 Euro to the Treasury.

too true wounded knee.

Messrs. Hayes & Harris are political featherweight trying to be somebodies by stealing the thunder of political heavyweights. There's also an intergenerational incestuous/canabalistic dynamic. Hayes was in nappies (diapers) being fed milupa when Adams/McGuinness were protecting their respective communities against sectarian violence/state terrorism during the Troubles. Sadly, like most other 30-somethings, they're largely historically illiterate due to a revisionist education and a designer propagandistic press/media. Fine Gael (FG) @ 26% are running scared of Sinn Fein (SF) @ 32%. Hell hath no fury like a partitionist party scorned!

Begrudgers are still alive and well in Ireland. Media hype or not, of course Martin McGuinness will shake the Queen's hand and I dare say a collective sign of relief will be felt that the days of animosity and insult to our nearest neighbour are behind us, get on with it. And WoundedKnee - you are spot on!

As i mentioned in a post a few days ago, this doesn't seem to be a major event with people from Northern Ireland. We're almost 15 years into a peace agreement, people aren't that bothered, it's no surprise, it's long overdue. I believe it's aimed more at the electorate in the Republic. They misjudged the mood of the nation by refusing to greet the Queen last year and now there using this to hype up some media attention and of course the 24 hour news media will be just to eager to oblidge. If there is one thing Sinn Fein are very good at it's propaganda.

These kind of attacks on Sinn Fein are getting old and the Irish electorate are starting to get annoyed at them.

The Blue Shirts can say whatever they wish. No one is listening to their hate speech.