Prince Charles Meets SF President Gerry Adams

The Prince of Wales has shaken hands with Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams during his royal visit to Galway, Ireland.

Mr Adams announced on 17 May representatives of his party would meet with the Prince during his four day trip.

Mr Adams said: "Today's meeting with Prince Charles is a significant symbolic and practical step forward in the process of healing and reconciliation arising from the peace process.

"He and his family were hurt and suffered great loss by the actions of Irish republicans. I am very conscious of this and of the sad loss of the Maxwell family whose son Paul was killed at Mullaghmore and I thank all involved, including Charles, for their forbearance.

"I am also very conscious of the hurt inflicted on my friends and neighbours in my own community of Ballymurphy and Springhill in 1971 and 1972 when sixteen local citizens including three children, a mother of eight, two Catholic priests and ten unarmed men were killed by the Parachute Regiment. The British royal family is inextricably bound up in the military institutions of the British state and the British Army regiments of which Prince Charles is commander in chief were responsible for inflicting hurt on many families on this island, including in Derry in Bloody Sunday.

"Thankfully the conflict is over but these families, like other victims and survivors of the conflict, still seek justice and truth and we raised their cases and that of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings with Charles.

"All victims, including those bereaved by the IRA, deserve justice and it is crucial that the process of healing and of reconciliation is enhanced and strengthened. I hope today’s meeting will assist this and that the Governments and political parties will build on this opportunity.

"Reconciliation is an enormous challenge for all of us. It is a personal process of dialogue, engagement, and compromise. It’s about healing the past and building a new, better and fairer future based on equality."

The Prince's great-uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten and three others were killed by an IRA bomb in Mullaghmore in 1979.

(LM/CD)