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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Queen Elizabeth announces end to war between Irish and British ----historic visit brings end to 800-year conflict

Posted on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 08:18 AM

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Dublin: The sheer shock of Queen Elizabeth speaking Gaelic during her remarks at a state dinner in her honor was bad enough.

Then there was the shot of her standing to attention for the Irish national anthem, and then of her laying a wreath on the remembrance plot for IRA heroes.

This is all too much to bear.

Do I wake or dream?

Has someone invented a Bizzaro world, you know that planet that Superman lived on before he came down to earth where everything was the direct opposite of what it was supposed to be?

What has happened here this week in Ireland has been little short of extraordinary.

Basically, the British have made the decision to bury the hatchet.

That was not a decision taken lightly, the British never do that.

But when they move they do it in style

After 800 years or so of intermittent warfare of the worst kind, the emissary in the shape of the queen has come to announce terms.

Those terms are splashed across every front page of the Irish media today.

'What were once hopes for the future have now come to pass' says The Irish Times headline, a direct quote from the queen.

The future has arrived in the new era for the Irish and British peoples.

There will be no more war.

Sure there will be crazies who want to keep shooting like those Japanese soldiers after World War 2 who never got the meessage until years later that hostilities had ceased.

They sail in puddles of the past as Patrick Kavanagh has written.

Another phrase from the queen jumps out 'being able to bow to the past, but not being bound by it'

That is what Ireland and Britain must do now.

The unionists in Northern Ireland must see the message from both the Irish leaders and the Queen on behalf of the British this week that they want no more war.

The Dissident IRA must see it too.

James Joyce once wrote that history is a nightmare from which the Irish are trying to awaken.

I think we all just woke up.

This queen's visit is so successful, so full of substance that it threatens to completely overshadow Obama's visit here on Monday.

Who would have thunk that?

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READ MORE:

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Irish Americans welcome Queen's historic visit to Ireland

The Queen turns down a free pint of Guinness - VIDEO & PHOTOS

Security code red as Queen visits British Army massacre site

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barneyjo | May 20, 2011, 02:10 PM EDT

I was talking to someone who has a friend who was in Croke Park during the vist by the Queen and within earshot of the conversations. Evidently at one stage Christy Cooney commented to her "And you are to visit Cork of Friday Ma'am. The Queen is supposed to have said " Yes we are. DO YOU THINK THE REBEL COUNTY WILL ACHIEVE THE BACK-TO-BACK THIS YEAR?" If that is true, she is very well informed!!

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cupertino | May 20, 2011, 01:01 PM EDT

Have the people of Ireland lost their minds? The Queen's visit cost the state 60 million Euros. I thought the country was broke! I also feel that her visit was an insult to those who sacrificed their lives for Ireland's freedom from England. The patriots hornored in the Garden of Rememberence must have felt like rising out og their graves when the Irish Military Band played " God Save The Queen" Everyone is making "nice" now but there is the little matter of a unitied Ireland still to be solved. I suppose it's going to be left to future generations to settle this matter.

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DanOLoingsigh | May 20, 2011, 11:50 AM EDT

Rebelforce – sadly for you and many others, the visit is viewed as an enormous success in Ireland, and surprised a lot of people, myself included...tune in to RTE Radio1 Playback at 0910 Saturday and have a listen.

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Rebelforce | May 20, 2011, 11:08 AM EDT

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't heard any reference at all to Ireland's horrific Great Hunger (1845-1848)that depopulated Ireland to such extent that Ireland is probably the only country in the world that has less people today than in 1845. Atleast one million Irish are estimated to have died of starvation and disease while another two million Irish were forced into exile under British colonial administration. Can anyone imagine the Head of State of Germany visiting Israel and pointedly NOT addressing the Holocaust?

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ancavker | May 20, 2011, 10:38 AM EDT

sparklet: Yes Americans should not be in the places we here we are, and Iraq was a disaster. Personally I think that we should tell much of the world to go scratch, until we fix our own problems. But criticizing America has become a pas time favorite for the Irish in Ireland. Of course over the years when many of us criticized the actions of the British govt in the north, and of course the inaction of the Irish govt in the north, the Irish said Americans had no right to do this, and did not understand what was going on etc. Of course the Irish fully understand what is going on in the rest of the world, and feel free to criticize America.

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ancavker | May 20, 2011, 10:33 AM EDT

towngate: Agreed. the headline is sensational, perhaps to catch peoples attention. I think perhaps he meant that her visit was a symbolic ending of the the conflict that did in fact start 800 hundred years ago. Of course during that long period there were long stretches when the Irish could have gotten their act together, and perhaps have rid the country of English rule and all the destruction that came with it. But of course being Irish they were too busy fighting among themselves.

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ancavker | May 20, 2011, 10:28 AM EDT

pittsburgh; One of the most infantile simplistic posts I have ever read.

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ancavker | May 20, 2011, 10:26 AM EDT

sparklet: Actually you are wrong most informed educate Irish-Americans know exactly what is going on.In fact we know more about Irish history than many Irish people do. I have not heard any one in any Irish-American song call for an IRA song in years. Any rebel songs that might be sung form time to time, are simply that. Rebel songs that commemorate Ireland's long struggle for freedom. Irish-Americans are quite comfortable in their skin, just like our cousins in Britain, far more comfortable than many Irish people in Ireland are.

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DanOLoingsigh | May 20, 2011, 09:55 AM EDT

Those sneaky Brits must have secretly taken over our RTE Liveline transmission, nothing but sycophantic praise and delight over this insulting trespass by Liz…and in Cork of all places…storm the studio at once and get the real Joe back…

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ScullysSoulmate | May 20, 2011, 09:27 AM EDT

A lot of you eejits can póg mo thion. I'm Irish, and I live here, and you and the eejits on TV are completely MISREPRESENTING how the PEOPLE HERE FEEL. They are DISGUSTED AS THEY WILL SHOULD BE at the money sent on this grandiose show of stupidity spending all this money while hospitals are being closed, old people turned away, and with poverty touching virtually everyone here except perhaps the eejits who are talking to "proudly" inside the ENGLISH MARKET of how "gracious" the old biddy is. Of course she is! her hems have practically been kissed, her ass certainly has, what a friggin joke. As they said, the Irish used to EXPORT all the good stuff BECAUSE JUST LIKE KNOW THEY COULDN'T AFFORD TO EAT THE GOOD STUFF. wake up and smell your tax and benefit dollars being used as toilet paper for the "monarch" whose blood line killed you like bugs.

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Towngate | May 20, 2011, 07:16 AM EDT

Wingeire1: and JuanMiranda you are not only rude ~ but you are so wrong! We are trying to put an end to vile hatred like you display in your comments.The Irish Republic finally became independent three years before she was Crowned so I don't see how you can blame her and the people of Northern Ireland themselves will say when they no longer want to be connected to Great Britain.Let go of your bigotry and catch up!

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maireadinmelb | May 20, 2011, 05:55 AM EDT

Over,well thats nice, it the war is over, I suppose all the emergency and special powers legislation can be repealed. Regular courts can be reinstated and that pesky little border can just be rubbed out on all the maps!

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hancock | May 20, 2011, 05:43 AM EDT

Yeah blame America for everything. I wish to visit thes myhtical bars where Irish Americans sob about the IRA. You Irish can sob about the queen now, maybe she'll take you back.

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Niamhaine | May 20, 2011, 04:37 AM EDT

If the majority of the Irish people want peace and to forgive, but never forget, please let them have it. Nothing makes me angrier than to see Ugly Americans in Ireland ranting about the injustices of the past and throwing money at the radicals. It's laughable to go in an American pub and see someone screaming for a rebel song, pounding their breast and screaming/sobbing "IRA". Do you even know how to spell Ireland, let alone have visited there(outside Temple Bar and the Guinness store) or studied some of their culture? Please get over your bad-assed selves and let the native Irish work on finding peace without violence.

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Sparklet | May 20, 2011, 02:35 AM EDT

Most Irish Americans appear to be totally out of touch with what's happening in Ireland today, and the attitude of people there. They've been away for so long that they are firmly rooted in the past and they don't realise that the Irish, in the main, aren't.

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