British foreign secretary William Hague said there is “tremendous and exciting” potential for Ireland and Britain to work together for the good of both countries.
Speaking on RTÉ radio this morning, Mr Hague said the visit of Queen Elizabeth was a "healing" one.
"Our countries are major trading partners. We can built on that much more and do so much together culturally and to encourage tourism. There is this exciting tremendous potential now and I think this forward-looking aspect of this visit is very important to all of us."
"We are moving on to a new chapter. There is so much we can do together now as normal friendly neighbours. I've seen that in the last twenty-four hours, working with Eamon Gilmore, we've been launching the new British Irish Chamber of Commerce," he said.
Asked what he thought of the objections to the Queen's visit and the fact that she cannot do a spontaneous walkabout here, Mr Hague said there would always be a "tiny minority" who were dissatisfied.
"The press here has reflected the reality of it. The warmth felt towards the visit is very striking, we were able to see that from members of the public.
"There will always be a minority for almost every head of state who are dissatisfied. The appetite is there in both countries to move on to an exciting future. It is so strong that we can say to that minority that we are moving on," he said.
Asked to respond to calls for the British government to release files on the 1974 Dublin-Monaghan bombings, Mr Hague said there were "legal constraints" under the European Court of Human Rights in relation to this.
However he said the British Government was "always happy to discuss this and other issues" saying David Cameron had "gone out of his way to address Bloody Sunday".
Mr Hague said the UK would continue to be helpful during Ireland's current economic crisis but stopped short of hinting at any reduction in the interest rate on the bilateral loan from Britain.
"That's a matter for the chancellor but we'll continue to be helpful and there'll be no pressure from us to change Ireland's corporate tax rate," he said.