DUP Lord Mayor makes history in Dublin visit

WHEN the Rev Cllr Eric Smyth arrived at the Mansion House yesterday with Mrs Frances Smyth, he became the first DUP Lord Mayor of Belfast to visit his Dublin counterpart.

Dublin's Lord Mayor, Alderman Sean Dublin Bay Rockall Loftus, was "delighted" at the visit.North when asked about the significance of the meeting

"The Lord Mayor invited me for lunch and I didn't like to shun the invitation," the Lord Mayor of Belfast said. "He is interested in my charity the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association and know of his past record as an independent politician and environmentalist."

The Lord Mayor added that both Dublin and Belfast were trying to reach for their parts of the "tourist apple" and some 800,000 visitors to the North last year were from the South.

Mr Smyth would not talk politics, however. Asked about the proposed elected assembly and the resulting controversy, he would now say: "I'll leave that to the leaders of all the parties."

The two men have a mutual friend in Ms Grainne Kenny, the international chairwoman of Europe against Drugs (EURAD), who has worked with both mayors. Ms Kenny and her daughter, Niamh, joined both men, Mrs Una Loftus and Mrs Smyth, for lunch.

The Belfast Lord Mayor was presented with a Waterford crystal bowl. Alderman Loftus said Mr Smyth had invited himself and Mrs Loftus to the Lord Mayor's Ball in Belfast next week.