Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Swire and Mel Stride(13 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Swire
I completely agree with the right hon. Gentleman. There has been no formal invitation yet, but he is absolutely right to draw attention to the matter. The UK and Ireland have an entwined relationship: 870,000 Irish-born people live here in the UK and over 90,000 UK citizens live in Ireland, and I hope they will join us in hoping that this visit can go ahead.
Mel Stride (Central Devon) (Con)
Does my hon. Friend have any concerns about security issues in respect of the Queen’s proposed visit to the Irish Republic?
Mr Swire
I do not think it would be very responsible of me to comment on that, save to say that we work extremely closely with the Garda, they work extremely closely with the PSNI and I have complete faith that they would be able to see that a visit of that sort went off without any trouble whatsoever.