[caption id="attachment_67310" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="President McAleese and Queen Elizabeth."]
The circumstances are not right for Sinn Féin's deputy first minister to meet Britain's Queen. But of course the job title does not right now refer to Martin McGuinness
It was the acting deputy first minister who made the comment in light of Martin McGuinness saying that if he was elected Irish president he would have no problem meeting the queen.
Mr. McGuinness said the presidency was a non-political role.
In May, when Queen
Elizabeth made her first
visit to Ireland at the invitation of President Mary McAleese, Sinn Féin refused to take part in any of the ceremonies.
The party's acting deputy first minister at Stormont, John O'Dowd, who has replaced McGuinness during the duration of the latter's presidential campaign, reaffirmed this stance this week when he said that he would not be meeting the queen.
During an interview with the BBC's "Inside Politics" program, O'Dowd said that the situation in the North was different.
"It would depend on the circumstances and what events led up to such a meeting," O'Dowd said.
"I don't believe the circumstances, as they are now, are right to do that.
"There are a number of issues which need to be resolved before such a scenario would arise, including from a republican point of view, we were meeting a family who would claim to be our heads of state.
"Republicans don't accept that," he added.
