A visit by Queen Elizabeth to the Republic could come sooner than people think because of the political breakthrough in Northern Ireland, President Mary McAleese said yesterday.
The strides away from conflict and the restoration of a power-sharing devolved government at Stormont were "without a shadow of a doubt" bringing forward the day when a visit could take place, the President said during a visit to the North yesterday.
"One of the things we would all have in mind would be to ensure the circumstances are absolutely right.
"They are probably now getting to the point where they are as close to right as they have ever been. One of the things we take great pride and great encouragement from is what is happening here in Northern Ireland - that's giving us great comfort."
Mrs McAleese was given a warm welcome when she made a groundbreaking first address to a unionist-controlled council in Northern Ireland.
Democratic Unionist and Ulster Unionist members of Lisburn City Council welcomed the president to a special meeting of the council.
Mrs McAleese told the councillors and invited guests: "We are a very blessed generation to live through times of unprecedented political goodwill on this island . . . Perseverance, courage and leadership have helped this generation to straighten out the skewed relationships that history bequeathed us."
The same characteristics, she said, would be needed to consolidate the new dispensation, the healthy new relationship and the challenges ahead from building an entrepreneurial economy to making sectarianism and paramilitarism history.
She said: "There can be little doubt that we have entered uncharted territory, an unprecedented era, one characterised by the confluence of peace, prosperity, parity of esteem and partnership."
Mrs McAleese, who visited both Catholic and Protestant schools during her visit to Lisburn, said there was a wider significance to the historic events in Northern Ireland.
"They send a powerful message of hope to other societies which are still mired in conflict and wondering if there is ever going to be any way out.
"We can at least tell them that patience and persistence do pay off, that courage and a generous spirit of compromise bring out the best in people, that old enemies can indeed become good neighbours."