President Higgins says State visit to Britain will improve relationships between countries

President Michael D Higgins has said his State visit to England next April will be an important occasion that will "really bring on the relationship between Ireland and Britain in a contemporary context".

He has also welcomed the fact that it will take place after the country has regained its economic sovereignty.

In his first public comments following the announcement of the visit, President Higgins told reporters at Trinity College Dublin last night that he anticipated it would be a "warm visit" and one which he and his wife Sabina Higgins were very much looking forward to.

Asked if it is significant that the visit was taking place after Ireland exited the bailout programme, President Higgins replied that "it will be welcome when we are in a clear space of taking our own decisions of an economic and social kind".

War centenary
He did say the date of the visit in 2014 was important in that it was the centenary of the beginning of the first World War. "It is a time where we are remembering one of the most awful losses of life in a war, [the war of 1914 to 1918]," he said.

President Higgins will stay as a guest of Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle, a signal of the high status the visit has been given in Britain. While the final itinerary has not been finalised, the President indicated he would be visiting Westminster Cathedral. He will also attend a banquet in his honour hosted by the queen.

Asked whether he was surprised that no State visit had taken place in the 90 years since independence, he said: “I don’t underestimate the significance of it. I have visited the Irish community in Britain. Presidents have taken tea with her majesty. The fact that it is a State visit involving not only meeting her majesty but also meeting representatives of government, all of that is very important.

“The symbolism is important too in terms of the decision by the host to accommodate the visit in Windsor Castle. I think it will bear very good fruit.”

President Higgins was speaking prior to addressing the Historical Society at TCD last night.

He said the connections between the two countries were multilayered, not only in politics but also in trade, in theatre, art, culture and also in sport, particularly soccer and horseracing.

“I am sure the structure of the visit will be looking at all the different dimensions.”

He said the migration pattern had changed and contemporary migrants were very different now to those who had emigrated to Britain a generation ago. Previous emigrants were not forgotten and he visited them regularly in London and other centres such as Liverpool and Manchester.

He also emphasised the importance of the visit to the Irish community in Britain, and their pride at a State visit by an Irish head of State.