Adams: Royal visit will 'promote reconciliation, respect and understanding'
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams hopes that the visit of Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla to Ireland next month will "promote reconciliation".
Clarence House had earlier confirmed that the prince and his wife will visit the Repulic of Ireland and N. Ireland between May 19 and 22, with the trip including a visit to Mullaghmore in Co Sligo, where Charles' great-uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten was killed in an IRA bombing in 1979.
Mr Adams said that this visit, and the visit of the Queen of England to the Republic of Ireland four years ago, would help to mend relations between the two countries.
The Sinn Féin President said: "The visit by the British Queen to the Garden of Remembrance, her words of reconciliation and the subsequent meetings with Martin McGuinness demonstrated the potential of these events.
“I am conscious that Prince Charles is the symbolic head of the British Army's Parachute Regiment and the grievous wrong they have done including to the people of Derry and Ballymurphy where I grew up.
“However, I am also conscious that the British Royal family have also been directly affected by the actions of republicans.
“I hope this visit will be an occasion to promote reconciliation, respect and understanding.”
