Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)

When I was in London, I addressed a huge assembly of young Irish people. I mentioned the Queen's visit and the feedback I received from them was very positive. They are very grateful that they can go to London and other parts of the United Kingdom to work and they are also very anxious that the Queen should receive a very warm welcome when she comes to Ireland. I did not encounter any negativity among the diaspora. It is very important that we treat the Queen with the respect that we would accord to any other visiting Head of State. We should welcome her in a very positive way and demonstrate at the same time how far we have come culturally. We should put on our greatest performance while she and President Obama are here. I hope the Queen's visit will not be associated with any negativity and that it will represent a very positive experience both for the Queen and the people. I hope this will result in more visitors from the United Kingdom, our biggest market. Just a few years ago the number of visitors from there was over 5.5 million, but this has decreased to under 3 million. We must help that market to recover. I hope, therefore, we can capitalise on the Queen's visit in that regard.

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