In my long life, I cannot remember a more incredible, exciting and history-making week as we've been through here in Ireland.

Last week, Queen Elizabeth paid her first visit to these shores, marking a turning point in our relationship with our closest neighbours.

And just 48 hours after she departed Ireland, the most powerful man on the planet, US President Barack Obama, paid us a flying visit.

Both visits were, without a doubt, a stunning PR success.

It was an incredible morale booster for our battered, bruised and bankrupt nation.

This was truly a groundbreaking visit by the queen.

The words of our greatest living poet, Seamus Heaney, came back to me: this is a moment in time "when hope and history rhyme".

This was the culmination of the tireless efforts of so many great people, not least the lately departed great nationalist and patriot Garret FitzGerald, who made it possible with his first tentative steps negotiating the Anglo Irish Agreement.

We must mention past president Mary Robinson and President Mary McAleese, who along with her newly-appointed senator husband Dr Martin McAleese, was instrumental in making this visit possible.

I, like thousands of Irish people, had my doubts about the timing of the visit but from the moment that the queen stepped off the plane in Baldonnel, I knew instinctively that the time was right. The time had come to bury 800 years of bitterness, enmity, mistrust and hatred.

In truth, the 85-year-old monarch stole our heart and even the most fervent, uncompromising nationalists would have to agree that it was an absolute ground breaking and historic moment in our history.

Who can forget the memorable and poignant moment in the Garden of Remembrance when the queen bowed in reverence to our patriot dead?

That bow of her head was more eloquent and moving and genuine than any spoken apology.

I was especially moved at the wonderful, moving and dignified ceremony at Islandbridge to honour the dead, those who gave their lives in the world wars and in other conflicts abroad.

It had a very personal resonance and meaning for me, as my father fought and suffered in the First World War.

President Obama hit our shores on Monday for a flying visit.

While I have tremendous respect for him as a man and a president, I am more than a little cynical at the timing of his visit. I'd say his visit marked probably the first shot of his election campaign.

However, I am not going to doubt his sincerity and can only applaud a man who has brought so much hope to people, culminating in the tens of thousands of Dubliners who flocked to see him in the city centre on a blustery Monday night.

However, If we were waiting for the president to bring groundbreaking promises or commitments to our ailing economy, we would have been disappointed.

His speech at College Green was of course a wonderful, uplifting and inspiring address to our nation. He urged us to get our country off its knees, and believe in ourselves, repeating his famous exhortation 'Yes We Can' as gaeilge.

He did support the Government in their commitment to keep the 12.5pc corporation tax and he did commit himself and his administration to support better terms from the IMF and the ECB to secure more equitable terms of the bailout. Not a bad result -- and we might have to call on him in the future.

Where are the new guidleines promised after last ash cloud?

WHEN the Grimsvotn volcano sent a plume of volcanic ash and debris 20,000ft into the air, everybody knew the disruption it could cause.

The chaos and millions of euros lost last year when another Icelandic volcano erupted are the stuff of all-too-recent memory.

But what really gets my goat is that there are parts of south east Asia where there is always a volcano erupting and yet there is not any travel chaos.

Airlines are not grounded and they seem to get by.

We were clearly promised after the last Icelandic debacle that there would be new guidelines and directions but this has not materialised.

One of the most vociferous critics of the policy was Michael O'Leary of Ryanair and even though many flights over Scotland are grounded, Mr O'Leary sent one of his planes into Scottish airspace and an examination of the aircraft showed that there wasn't a speck of ash.

I never thought I'd hear myself agree so wholeheartedly with Mr O'Leary, but the authorities are once again over-reacting. Surely with all our technology, it shouldn't be beyond the bounds of science that we can fly safely and negotiate our way around this eruption.

Jealous Munster fans - get a life

MY God, what a match! It amounts to one of the greatest sporting comebacks I've witnessed in my lifetime, not just in rugby but in any sport.

Of course, I'm referring to the Heineken Cup final in Cardiff last Saturday, when Leinster went into the tunnel at half-time a busted flush.

Miracle

At that point, not even the most ardent and fanatical and loyal Leinster supporters could have dreamt that Leinster would beat Northampton.

But a miracle did happen in the person of Johnny Sexton, who I'm proud to claim as one of our own from Listowel, Co Kerry.

However, I was disappointed to hear about the behaviour of a small faction of Munster fans who arrived clad in their Munster jerseys and sporting Northampton scarves.

The tiny pockets of fans were spotted by former Leinster flanker and Ireland international Neil Francis who branded their behaviour a "disgrace".

It was unworthy and unbecoming of the great sporting tradition of Munster rugby.

I'm a Munster supporter, but I don't condone such shocking behaviour.

Get a life lads!

- Gerry O'Carroll