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BBC MUNDO RADIO
• The Queen arrives in Ireland for historic visit
• Irish army earlier made safe a bomb near Dublin
• First British monarch to visit for 100 years
• Follow live updates below and tweet me @AdamGabbatt
Here we are – video of the Queen arriving in Ireland. She looks very pleased to be there.
Henry McDonald reports from central Dublin:
A second larger republican dissident demonstration has just set off towards Garda lines blocking off routes to the Garden of Remembrance. Around 100 protesters, lead by radical republican group éirígí are now being held back by gardaí close to Dublin's Rotunda hospital.
@shoutinthewind @guardian @AdamGabbatt - Have the Irish got the money for this visit - It must be massively expensive and for what - A visit from the Queen!
Stephen Bates is out on the road as part of the press pack on the Queen's four-day trip, and reports that the large media centre at Dublin Castle is filling up: "there is huge international interest".
As the Queen landed at the Baldonnel airfield, the headquarters of the Irish air force, the Irish media centre staff burst into spontaneous applause – though whether that was because of relief at the safe arrival, or that they had all won money on the bookies' bet that the Queen would wear green (that was a pretty odds-on bet) may be a moot point.
Irish pundits on RTE are noting that the Queen's dresser Angela Kelly, though Liverpool-born is of Irish descent and so would have advised HM on what to wear (as if she needed it), and also that the Queen's dress is blue – St Patrick's colour – so a double whammy.
Irish celebrities from north and south are gathering at Aras, the president's house and former British vice-regal lodge in Phoenix Park, ready for lunch: John Hume and David Trimble from the North. Mary McAleese, the president, likes to point out she sleeps in the bed at the Aras that was made for George V on his visit in 1911.
Few Irish people have seen the Queen yet: Phoenix Park was cleared of members of the public, unlike when George V drove in an open carriage the eight miles from the port at Kingstown 100 years ago, waving to crowds all the way.
The Manchester Guardian reported at the time that the wear on his hand was "only one of the minor penalties royalty has to pay for its popularity, but these courtesies must impose a very severe physical tax when they have to be measured by the mile." No danger of that today – but unlike quite often – the Queen is being very smiley today and looks genuinely pleased to be here.
A bit of lunchtime reading from my colleague Nick Watt, who writes on the Wintour and Watt blog that it was John Major who started the process which led to the Queen being received in Ireland today.
Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, the former British and Irish prime ministers, are rightly lauded for their historic roles in leading the Good Friday Agreement negotiations. But their warm and constructive relationship was only made possible after their predecessors had embarked on the hard graft of normalising Anglo-Irish relations.
The key relationship was between John Major, prime minister from 1990-97, and Albert Reynolds, Taoiseach between 1992-94. The two men, who had formed a strong bond as finance ministers at EU meetings in Brussels, had a straightforward and open relationship.
Major and Reynolds had a tough job. Their predecessors, Margaret Thatcher and Charles Haughey, had a tetchy relationship. Their relationship started well at the famous famous "teapot" summit in 1981 when Haughey presented Thatcher with a silver Georgian teapot and they agreed to examine the "totality of relationships" between the two islands. But Thatcher became alarmed by Haughey's determination to press ahead what she regarded as overly nationalist plans.
The breakthrough in Anglo-Irish relations took place under John Major and Albert Reynolds in 1993 at, of all places, the Baldonnel military airbase where the Queen was welcomed today. Lord Butler of Brockwell, the former cabinet secretary, flew to the airbase for a secret meeting with Reynolds who had an early draft of a proposed new Anglo-Irish declaration. This eventually became the Downing Street Declaration of December 1993 which was one of the first steps on the lengthy road that led to the Good Friday Agreement four and a half years later.
There was a pretty good interview with John Major on the Queen's visit on Newsnight last night (about 40 minutes in).
"It puts a seal on the past and builds for the future," he says.
"We've moved a great deal since the 1990s... we're huge trading partners, we have a huge Irish population here in the UK, quite a few Brits living in Ireland... there are 200 flights a day from London to Irish airports. It's become a very close relationship."
The Queen has just planted a tree. Or rather she shovelled two very small piles of mud onto the base of a tree which looked suspiciously like it had already been planted. Fair enough though, she's not exactly dressed for gardening. The crowd applauds anyway.
Mary McAleese is now leading a tour across a portion of the gardens. I believe the pair will now depart for lunch.
VincenzoScifoDieci writes that he's just passed through Dublin, and found it to be resembling a "coppers' convention".
The security can be an annoyance of course, but a necessity just the same.
Total indifference to this visit. The Windsors and their Royal brethren always struck me as comedic figures to be honest. They're as dysfunctional as most families. Liz, her wayward kids, her idiotic husband who is always putting his foot in it. I hope there is a couple of gems from him over the next couple of days!
Of course the historical context, is flamed by a minute vocal minority – yet balanced by the majority, who are more worried about how they are going to feed their kids in the sovereign black hole that is now Ireland.
We've just had a fly past, and now the Queen is inspecting the Guard of Honour. All seems to be well.
She's here. Mary McAleese is waiting for the Queen, the Irish President resplendent in bright pink. Together they look like a couple of Refreshers.
@NicolaRice82 Loving Mary's pink. #queensvisit
@iamdavidwebb Dear Elizabeth and Mary: those colours clash #queensvisit
It appears the Queen has been delayed slightly, so BBC and Sky are treating us to beautiful panning shots of Áras an Uachtaráin. It's a fine looking residence, it must be said.
Henry McDonald is out on the streets with dissident republicans who are protesting against the Queen's arrival:
Around 60 supporters of the hardline Republican Sinn Fein have gathered at a security barrier in the last few minutes north of Parnell Square. They are being kept away from the Garden of Remembrance where the Queen will visit later this afternoon. So far the protest is looking peaceful. RSF's founder Rory O'Bradoidh has denied that the turnout is disappointing for the republican dissident cause.
The Queen's plane has landed at Baldonnel, by the way. A long red carpet gushes from the open aircraft door, with a black Range Rover at one end and soldiers lined either side.
The Queen arrives in Ireland Photograph: Sky News And... she's out. The first reigning British monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland. Appropriately enough, the Queen is wearing green – hat and overcoat matching. She stops to collect a bouquet from a young girl, hops into the waiting car, and off they go.
Next stop Áras an Uachtaráin - the official residence of the President of Ireland – where she will meet President Mary McAleese.
Below the line shimrod responds to DMCCUSKER12's inference that the Queen's visit is generally not welcome, claiming that the "vast majority of Irish citizens are either positive or mildly indifferent to the visit of the Head of State of the UK to the Republic".
A small number of people are objecting either because they object to Monarchy in general, (or the British one in particular) and are having peaceful demonstrations (as is their right), but lets be clear that this, in no way, respresents the majority view of the population.
Also, this visit comes because of a request made by the Irish President and the previous Government, not a request by the British Monarchy. I presume you are an Irish Citizen like me. In which case, you do accept the sovereign right of the Irish Government to invite whoever they want to Visit the Republic of Ireland don't you?
Morrissey has marked her majesty's impending arrival in Ireland by writing about the monarchy for the music magazine Hot Press. The singer used the piece to describe the Queen's existence as "entirely against any notion of democracy", and by claiming there is little difference between the monarch and dictators like Muammar Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak.
The full meaning of the Monarchy is, like the Queen herself, a complete mystery to most people. It is protected from any investigations by ridiculous stories of trivia and wedding dresses and on-again-off-again soap-drama romances. The most revealing statement came from Commander Christine Jones of the Metropolitan Police last month, when she warned that any British people carrying anti-royal placards who are "seen in the vicinity of the royal wedding would be removed under the Public Order Act." This means that any political dissent in England is silenced in order to protect the royals, which in itself goes against every principle of democracy.
The very existence of the Queen and her now enormous family – all supported by the British taxpayer whether the British taxpayer likes it or not – is entirely against any notion of democracy, and is against freedom of speech. For a broad historical view of what the Queen is and how she "rules", examine Gaddafi or Mubarak, and see if you can spot any difference.
You won't be able to.
The Queen also has the power to give back the six counties to the Irish people, allowing Ireland to be a nation once again. The fact that she has not done so is Fascism in full flow. What else could it be? Name one other European country that is controlled by its neighbour?
Henry McDonald is out and about, and nearly getting arrested, in central Dublin:
At Parnell Square North the Garda Síochána are getting increasingly nervous and ultra security conscious. When I arrived at a crush barrier at the junction with Dorset Street a Garda sergeant in a yellow hi-vis jacket asked me to leave the area. On asking why I was then threatened with arrest if I didn't move on.
All the main routes from north Dublin into Parnell Square leading to the Garden of Remembrance – where the Queen will later lay a wreath on the spot dedicated to Irish republicans who once fought the British – are sealed off. Overhead a Garda helicopter is hovering around Dublin's north inner city.
Meanwhile Republican Sinn Féin has shifted their protest to the "Black Church" in nearby Mountjoy Street. It is a famous Dublin landmark which is mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses, and according to local legend if you walk anti-clockwise around it three times with your eyes closed when you open them again you are meant to see the Devil.
The dissident republicans will march from the church after a noon time rally towards the Garda lines at Parnell Square North. Further down that same street is the headquarters of the mainstream Sinn Féin whose response to the royal visit this morning has been the blaring of Irish republican ballads from a speaker system from one of their offices.
On Twitter, #queensvisit is the most discussed topic in Ireland at the moment (it doesn't even breach the top ten in the UK, where tweeters are more concerned with #ignoredtextmessages).
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