UNIONISTS are objecting to the visit today by the Taoiseach to Co Fermanagh. Mr Bruton is on a one day informal visit which includes talks on cross Border economic development. He will visit Belleek pottery and talk to students in two Enniskillen schools.
Mr Bruton will also attend a lunch hosted by the chairman of Fermanagh District Council, the Ulster Unionist councillor, Mr Sam Foster. Mr Foster has said there were no political connotations to the visit and he would welcome Mr Bruton as a visitor.
But Mr Jeffrey Donaldson of the UUP claimed recent trips by the President, Mrs Robinson, had breached protocol and asked if Mr Bruton's trip was "another incursion".
"We dispute the Republic's territorial claim to Northern Ireland and that's why we are sensitive to such visits," said Mr Donaldson. A Government spokesman has said the Taoiseach's informal working visit included a number of engagements and all the appropriate protocol had been applied.
It is understood that the British government was contacted through its embassy in Dublin and the Northern Ireland Office.
The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, said there was "never a good time" for Mr Bruton to visit Northern Ireland because he came as a person "who claims the territory he is visiting".