Ireland Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said there was no chance the visit would be cancelled despite the discovery of the bomb, adding that police and the army had dealt with it in an "appropriate and efficient manner"Obviously when this visit was first indicated to Buckingham Palace and they responded to the president's invitation there would be no going back on that," Kenny told RTE state radio.The device was found 12 hours before the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were due to touch down at Baldonnel, west Dublin, heightening fears of some sort of attack by dissident republicans to disrupt the historic visit.
A second device abandoned near a light-rail station in west Dublin was deemed a hoax Tuesday morning. Later, police responded to at least two more reports of suspicious packages in working-class districts of north Dublin, but no further bombs were confirmed.Police said IRA dissidents using a recognized codeword warned about the bus bomb, which was left in overhead luggage. Those include the Garden of Remembrance, a monument to those killed in Ireland’s war of independence from Britain, and sports stadium Croke Park, the site of the 1920 killing of 14 civilians and three republican operatives by the British Army in reprisal for the killing of 14 British agents by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Senior political figures have welcomed the visit as a reconciliatory move.During my adolescent years the situation turned more disturbing and became, if you like, more a reality. I never understood at the time why my Mother was so determined to prevent me from studying at the University of Ulster; she passionately objected and even feared for my life, if I furthered my education in Londonderry. Armed escort to and from the plane, bags searched and even us children were rigorously checked for weapons. For an eight year old, I found it quite intimidating and scary at the time.
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