Cabinet to decide on sending representative to partition centenary event

A decision on whether to send a Government representative to an event marking the centenary of partition will be made at Cabinet tonight.

President Michael D Higgins has declined an invitation to the church service in County Armagh, saying the title of the event was politicised and noting that would be inappropriate for the head of State to attend an event that commemorates partition.

The invitation is to a “service of reflection and hope to mark the centenary of the partition of Ireland and the formation of Northern Ireland”.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is due to attend the event and the Government has now been invited to send a representative.

Ministers will consider whether or not to do so at a meeting this evening.

Reports this morning indicate that the Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney would attend the service if Cabinet agrees to send him.

Minister Coveney has previously said President Higgins was entitled to make his own decisions on what events to attend. He said the Government would give any invitation to the event “serious consideration.”