Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said his meeting with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth could have the effect of defining a new relationship between Britain and Ireland.
Speaking to an audience in London tonight, Mr McGuinness said the meeting had come about as a result of "decades of work constructing the Irish peace process".
He said the context in which the meeting took place was that national reconciliation would be built on the foundation of mutual respect and decisive actions.
Mr McGuinness said he welcomed the opportunity to have a public conversation about dealing with the past and that he was willing to work with others to find a way to complete what he described as the journey to true reconciliation.
The Sinn Féin MLA said that, in meeting Queen Elizabeth, he was in a very pointed, deliberate and symbolic way offering the hand of friendship to Unionists.
However, he warned that the issue of the legacy of the Troubles had not been brought to a conclusion and that the British government needed to stop obstructing matters, such an inquiry into the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane.
Mr McGuinness accused British Prime Minister David Cameron of a "lack of engagement".
He said that he and First Minister Peter Robinson had met US President Barack Obama more times than they had met Mr Cameron.
