Queen visits Croke Park: empty of people, full of symbolism

The Queen’s visit to the Croke Park stadium was surreal on many levels.   The monarch at the scene of British crimes and the iconic heart of the history of Irish struggle was always going to be something.  The sight of a short lady dressed in yellow sitting on the perimeter of a completely empty 87,000 capacity stadium kind of rubbed home the sterility of this trip.

No matter,  the job was done yesterday in the carefully crafted and cleverly timed opening photo opportunity of the trip – the mood-setter at the memorial garden.  Nobody had a moment to drum their fingers saying “when’s she going to do something significant?”  The Queen was off the plane and at the symbolism faster than you can say “wham-bam, thank you Ma’am.”

One senior Irish government figure said that the Garden of Remembrance was always meant to be the signifier for the moment the “peace process” truly ended and the “political process” fully took over. His beaming face told you he thought they’d pulled it off.