Bomb made safe ahead of royal visit
A pipe bomb has been found on a crowded bus on its way to Dublin just hours before Britain's Queen Elizabeth was due to arrive in the capital.
Thirty passengers hurriedly left the coach when it was stopped and searched 40 miles from the city.
The explosive device was discovered in a holdall in the luggage compartment when it was checked in Maynooth, Co Kildare late on Monday night. The bus had been on its way from Ballina, Co Mayo.
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.Army bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion during a three hour operation. The bus - operated by Bus Eireann company - had been stopped outside an hotel, apparently after a tip-off. The passengers were told to get off and move well clear.
With up to 8,000 police officers on full alert, a security source told the Press Association: "This device was viable. It had the potential to detonate and do harm."
Politicians on both sides of the Irish Sea have described the four-day visit event as momentous. British Prime Minister David Cameron said: "I believe Her Majesty's visit will be the start of something big."
When Queen Elizabeth, joined by her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, arrives in Dublin she will become the first British monarch to travel to the Republic in 100 years.
An unprecedented security operation, costing an estimated 30 million euro, is in place to safeguard the royal couple, which includes land, air and sea patrols and a ring of steel around the centre of Dublin. Some opposition to the royal visit has been voiced, which comes against a background of increasing dissident republican violence.
But both governments say they hope the official trip will hasten a new and better relationship between the people of Ireland and Britain, built on equality and mutual respect.
Major hails 'significant' visit
The Queen's visit to Ireland will "put a seal on the past and build for the future", former British PM Sir John Major has said.
Sir John, who first set in train the peace process in Northern Ireland which led to the current power-sharing arrangements, said the visit is the most significant royal trip for many decades.
He dismissed the suggestion of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams that the visit is "premature" and said he did not anticipate that the Queen will deliver any apology for the UK's past involvement in Ireland.
Speaking to BBC2's Newsnight, Sir John said: "This (visit) puts the seal on a relationship that was sour and is no longer sour. It puts a seal on the past and builds for the future. I can't think of anything of equivalent significance in the last few decades."And he added: "I think it will set a new mark for relations between the UK and Ireland."
Sir John said the atmosphere of relations between London and Dublin had "changed beyond belief" over the past 20 years.
From a position in the early 1990s when the rare conversations between prime ministers of the two countries were "frosty", UK-Irish relations have now reached the point where they are close political allies and major trading partners with 200 flights a day between their airports and a high level of "interplay" between their populations, he said.
"The atmosphere has changed tremendously and I think the Queen's visit will be not reflecting on the past, but looking forward to an ongoing relationship," said Sir John.
Asked if Her Majesty should make any apologies during her visit, he replied: "I don't think the Queen is going there to look at the past at all and I don't anticipate that that will be the case.
"I think what the Queen is going there for is to do what she has consistently done since she became Queen, which is to look to the future."
Queen's visit 'is inappropriate'
Descendants of Ireland's 1916 rebel leaders have branded the state visit by Britain's Queen Elizabeth "bizarre" and "inappropriate".
James Connolly-Heron, great-grandson of Irish Labour Party founder James Connolly, said the historic visit was full of contradictions.
Honor O Brolchain, grand-niece of another signatory of the Proclamation of Independence, Joe Plunkett, said she was initially indifferent to the royal visit but now finds the idea ill-judged.
Both questioned why the Queen was asked to attend the Garden of Remembrance, which honours Irish rebels, and Croke Park, where in 1920 British troops killed 14 people in what was the original Bloody Sunday attack.
Mr Connolly-Heron said: "The places that she is visiting, the Garden of Remembrance and Croke Park, it's very inappropriate and insensitive. The Garden of Remembrance honours all those who fought and died for Irish freedom and that's where the Queen will be laying a wreath. But that dream has not been realised.
"There's a contradiction there. Given that the Queen of England still occupies part of this island is it not strange that she is honouring those who fought and died? I don't think we are at the stage for that sort of recognition.
"The itinerary is very strange. We have a strange image of the Queen laying a wreath in honour of those patriots. Is the Queen in favour of Irish unity? Croke Park is even more bizarre. The first people who should be honoured should be the people who died on the field."
Despite her opposition, Ms O Brolchain said she would not protest and that she respects the Government's decision to extend an invitation.
"Originally I would have said just stand back and stay away. I would prefer to do that," she said. "But I'd also much prefer some kind of establishment of what the Queen's view of our relationship in Irish history was.
"I realise we are only a small part of a colonial history but there should be some form of words or acknowledgement and she may do that, we don't know, but it would have been easier if we had been told that."
We can't let our missing Esra become a statistic
HELP US: Mystery of disappeared mum takes growing toll on family
The family of a Dublin mum who vanished nearly three months ago fear that she "will become just another statistic".
Esra Uyrun (39), who lived in Clondalkin, disappeared without a trace on February 23 in Bray.
Her sister, Berna Fidan, who is based in London, told the Herald she was afraid the search for her would be abandoned.
"Esra will have been gone 12 weeks next Wednesday and we still have nothing at all -- not even a clue -- it's amazing really, considering the number of searches we've had," Berna said.
"I feel like there's nothing left for me to do. I've travelled to Ireland as often I can to put posters up, organise rescue parties, and get the word out.
"I've only just started working again -- I'm exhausted but I can't give up on her.
"My concern is that Esra will become just another statistic on a paper, and we don't want her to end up like that.
Images
"Every time I come over, a lot of posters have been taken down, sometimes within 24 hours, and I'm afraid people will stop caring and searching."
Turkish-born Esra left her home in Clondalkin at 7.15am -- her car, a Renault Twingo, was caught on cameras in Bray at 8.40am.
CCTV images, released by Missing Ireland, revealed that she had a near-collision with a Skoda Octavia on Strand Road. Her car was later found abandoned at the nearby Bray Head car park -- with her purse, which still contained her cards, in the boot.
Her family do not believe she took her own life, although they admitted she might have been lonely in her Collinstown Grove home, where she lived with her husband Ozgur and son Emin (2).
The lack of progress in the investigation has taken its toll on the family.
Difficult
"When we were driving down to Bray with Emin in the back seat, he recognised the route and he was just looking around and he turned around and said to us 'Where's my mummy?'," Berna said.
"It's very difficult for my sister's husband and their baby now. They're alone in Ireland at the minute. My mother is very ill, she's had a heart bypass, she's heavily diabetic and she has liver problems so it's really affected her as well."
Berna said that she was grateful for all the support the family had received so far which kept her from despair.
"We've had so many volunteers help us, they are such good people. All we want is for her to come home -- we're waiting and praying every day."
The MISS group, on behalf of the family, is appealing for anyone who either owns the Octavia involved in the near- collision, or who knows who might own it, to contact gardai at Ronanstown on 01-6667700 or MISS on 1890 442 552.