Peace and understanding were in the air in Belfast yesterday - well, the western part of it anyway, where the Ulster Unionist Trade Minister enjoyed a cosy breakfast with the Sinn Fein president. On the other side of town, however, Sinn Fein was accused of creating "communal disharmony" when its Ministers refused to mark the Queen Mother's 100th birthday by flying the Union flag.
Sir Reg Empey ventured on to the Falls Road to tour an Irish-language economic initiative which includes a translation facility and a bilingual information technology service. Sipping coffee with the area's MP, Mr Gerry Adams, the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment said he had had "no hesitation" in accepting the invitation by the project's organisers, Culturlann.
Sir Reg had practised part of his speech in Irish, but "got cold feet" at the last minute. "It would have been a bit corny, because I knew I hadn't got it right, so I'd rather wait until I can do it properly. I find it is a very difficult language", he admitted.
Mr Adams said he was "not at all disappointed" that Sir Reg had not ventured into bilingual territory. "That will come", he comforted the Minister.
Some mischievous journalists then tried to get the Sinn Fein president to offer Sir Reg free language classes, but were rebuffed.
"You can see, the Minister was well received, there was a very mighty `cead mile failte' for him", Mr Adams continued. "I do like to think that a visit like this, where people can quietly get on with their business, where there can be a bit of craic, as well as the active business of trying to get employment and an economic dividend into areas which have suffered - that is very important."
Meanwhile, loyalist protesters were in no mood for craic when they picketed the offices of the Education Minister, Mr Martin McGuinness, in Bangor, Co Down. The Minister had refused permission for the Union flag to be flown from the building in honour of the Queen Mother's birthday. In the afternoon, some protesters erected one in front of his office anyway.
The Health Minister, Ms Bairbre de Brun, was heckled by about 20 protesters from the Progressive Unionist Party as she left her ministerial office at Castle Buildings, Stormont. A PUP spokesman, Mr Billy Hutchinson, said her decision not to fly the Union flag was a "disgrace and an insult to the British monarchy".
"These people were not even born before partition and cannot bring themselves to recognise a day when they could have made an important gesture. All they want to pursue is in-your-face politics", Mr Hutchinson said. "It is time Martin McGuinness and Bairbre de Brun admitted that they administer British rule in Northern Ireland and stopped trying to pacify the hard men of the republican movement."
A Sinn Fein MLA, Mr Alex Maskey, described the protesters' actions as "intimidating and sectarian", adding: "Symbols and emblems used in public must be used in a manner which promotes mutual respect rather than division. Sinn Fein's position on the flying of flags is designed to offend nobody."
Meanwhile, the Queen Mother was given the traditional 21-gun salute at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, the Northern Secretary's official residence. Politicians, among them the First Minister, Mr David Trimble, and the Ulster Unionist MP, Mr John Taylor, sent their congratulations and street parties took place in some loyalist areas.
Mr Trimble was reported to have written to the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, demanding that the Union flag be flown on all government buildings in Northern Ireland on stipulated statutory days. There appears to be no sign of the white flag being flown in this dispute.