Tag Archives: Royal visit to Ireland

Windswept, and waiting hours on the side of a limestone hill took little out of four young experts, on hand to educate the future king of England on the local area when he visited the Burren on Tuesday. The local children, all graduates of the Burrenbeo 20-week Ecobeo educational programme, instructed Prince Charles on archaeological, historic, geological and ecological features of the local landscape. The sight of the helicopter accompanying the royal motorcade as it weaved towards the Nagle farm in Pullaghcarron eased the boredom of waiting to meet the heir to the British throne for the primary-school pupils. Watching it, 12-year-old Eoin McNamara, a pupil at Carron National School, revealed his hopes for the historic arrival of the Prince of Wales in the Burren. “I keep expecting it to be like the Olympics, when the Queen parachuted out of the helicopter,” he said. His classmate, Aoife McNamara, was philosophical about her upcoming brush with royalty. “He is just a person, …

Nicola Corless Security around Clare and Galway is high today as the final preparations are being made for the two-day official visit of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall to the Republic of Ireland. A senior garda described the visit as “at the top of the scale” in terms of security. He said an incident was “possible but not likely” and there was no information about a “specific threat”. Security zones will be in place around each area the royal couple are scheduled to visit and there is a heavy garda presence across South Galway and North Clare, as well as in Oranmore and Galway City, in particular close to NUI Galway. Prince Charles is set to visit the Burren later today where he will meet local farmers and conservationists and take a walking tour of a farm there. He will also meet with primary school children from two Burren schools before listening to a performance from young, local musicians. …