Sinn Féin leader and local TD Gerry Adams and Britain’s Prince Charles shook hands at an event in Galway this afternoon.
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla arrived in the west of Ireland this morning at the start of a four-day visit.
Mr Adams had asked to meet the Prince of Wales during the visit.
It is the first meeting in the Republic between Sinn Féin leadership and a member of the British Royal family since partition.
Mr Adams said he hoped the meeting would assist the process of peace and reconciliation in Ireland.
Speaking as he arrived at NUIG, Mr Adams said he would be thinking not only of the victims of the IRA bomb attack in Mullaghmore, Co Sligo, which included the prince’s great uncle Lord Mountbatten, but also of other victims of the Troubles.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Mr Adams said he would express regret at the IRA’s murder of Lord Mountbatten, but stressed his meeting with Prince Charles would be one of equals.
Mr Adams also said he stood over remarks he made at the time of the killing that Lord Mountbatten knew the danger involved in coming to this country and that, given his war record, he could not object to dying in what was clearly a war situation.
Source: RTÉ News
