Queen on first state visit to Republic of Ireland

Irish police say up to 4,000 people are involved in security for the four-day trip, which comes amid a rise in dissident republican violence.

The Irish army has made safe what was described as a viable bomb found on a bus bound for Dublin. Another bomb threat has been investigated in London.

President Mary McAleese will formally welcome the Queen at her Dublin home.

King George V was the last reigning monarch to visit the country, in 1911, when what is now the Republic was then part of the UK.

The Queen was invited to visit by President McAleese, who will formally welcome the monarch at Aras an Uachtarain, her home in Dublin's Phoenix Park.

The president told state broadcaster RTE it was "an extraordinary moment in Irish history - a phenomenal sign and signal of the success of the peace process and absolutely the right moment for us to welcome onto Irish soil, Her Majesty the Queen".

Mrs McAleese said the two countries were "forging a new future - a future very, very different from the past, on very different terms from the past - and I think the visit will send the message that we are, both jurisdictions, determined to make the future a much, much better place."

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said: "One hundred years on from the last time a British monarch visited Ireland, I think there is a great sense of history and occasion."

He added: "I think the real effect... will be a marker that just as we are solving some of the problems there have been between us in the past, just as we are helping each other through these difficult economic times, now is a great moment for people in Britain and people in Ireland to remember what it is we share."

The Queen will attend events at Trinity College Dublin, the National War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge and Croke Park stadium, BBC News reports.

See www.bbc.co.uk for full version.