Emotions have been visible in surprising places this week, writes MARK HENNESSY,London Editor
THERE’S AN old joke among diplomats that their favourite smell is that of benzene, left by the fumes of a departing VIP aircraft as it lifts off from the runway on the way home following a successful official visit.
The thought, no doubt, occurred to a few of the Irish and British diplomats in Cork airport yesterday afternoon, as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip and their party returned to London.
Now, one must turn to the legacy left by four extraordinary days in May, including events such as the unbidden standing ovation she received at the convention centre on Thursday – one that clearly stunned her and, indeed, the people giving it.
It was a week where emotions have been visible in surprising places. Listening to President Mary McAleese in Dublin Castle on Wednesday night, British prime minister David Cameron let a tear roll down his face, unnoticed by the TV cameras.
The week will leave a memory of welcome in the minds of large numbers of British watching the visit from their sitting rooms, even if the message they received was marred somewhat by the early focus on disturbances.
A long road has still to be travelled. The Irish believe they know the British, when we do not, while the British rarely think about Ireland at all – and usually inaccurately. “One British radio station asked me if we were in the same time zone,” said one Cork reporter in amazement yesterday.
Countries, as another saying in the world of diplomacy has it, do not have friends, they have only interests – though, undoubtedly, a degree of fellow-feeling does help to smooth troubled waters.
There are issues by the score. On Monday, Northern Ireland Secretary of State Owen Paterson will publish the results of the inquiry into the killing of Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson – one, it is understood, that will sharply criticise senior RUC officers.
The sore of the 1974 bombings in Dublin and Monaghan remains – an atrocity believed to have been possible only with the connivance of some in the British security services, sanctioned or otherwise. The Republic likely has questions to answer about its own inquiry.
British foreign secretary William Hague said this week the sections left out of the British files sent to the Barron inquiry would not greatly advance knowledge of those involved in the atrocity, but the demands remain. He is open to pressure on the issue, since he released 50-year-old files on treatment given to the Mau Mau during Kenya’s independence struggle, saying past sins should not be covered in secrecy.
On the EU front, the UK has been helpful to Ireland in its battle to defend its right to hold on to the 12.5 per cent corporation tax, if only because London objects to such Brussels-led interference, rather than because they approve of the rate itself. The British have their own concerns. Last year’s near £4 billion (€4.6 billion) loan by chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne was an act of helping a neighbour, but it was also in the UK’s self-interest.
British banks are seriously exposed to the Irish financial crisis. Meanwhile, the fact Ireland is a significant export market for the UK has been repeated ad nauseam in the House of Commons for months.
In Ireland the visit has provoked different reactions. For Sinn Féin, it was a difficult few days, as it was unable to accurately gauge public opinion or to offer leadership one way or the other to those in its ranks.
First it said there should be protests; then that there should not be; then there should be appropriate protests – and then Gerry Adams said the visit had some positive elements, if not enough of them.
The majority in Ireland and the UK will raise their eyebrows in despair at Republican Sinn Féin’s holding a “cleansing ceremony” tomorrow in the Garden of Remembrance to clear it “of any residue of British Imperialism”.