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Ambassador expecting ministerial visit sure of one: 'we need liquor'
The Irish Times
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Secret move to transport State exam papers'It was the most bitter
confrontation in the history of the State'Gift elephant resulted in
jumbo transportation billTraining of Egyptian pilots raised doubts at
department levelSafe And Sound 'Boat People' ArriveHaughey challenged
early on to define his policy on Northern IrelandFIONA
GARTLANDDIPLOMACY: IRISH DIPLOMATS in Saudi Arabia smuggled in alcohol
concealed under false shipping labels to dodge the Islamic state's
drink ban, official files reveal.
Department of Foreign Affairs papers from 1977-78 show the Embassy in
Jeddah used an Italian company to secretly ship in cases of wine and
whiskey using documents marked `preserves or furniture'.
The then ambassador Eamon Ó Tuathail stressed the importance of having
liquor available for ministerial visits, and he wrote several letters
to the Irish Embassy in Rome to help arrange the secret shipments,
using Trieste-based firm Alberti.
`As usual, Alberti should arrange that the boxes inside the containers
should be sealed and have no indication on the outside as to
contents,' the ambassador wrote to official Billy Hawkes in Rome in
February 1978.
`The shipping documents should show `furniture'.
`We now have the police sitting outside both the office and residence!'
The diplomat insisted the Embassy needed to stock up on supplies in
case a government minister visited. `While it would be pleasant to
have an odd drink oneself, I am concerned that we may have a
ministerial visit either before or after the summer,' he wrote in an
earlier letter in May 1977.
`For that we need liquor. Most Saudis expect to be served alcohol at
diplomatic receptions.'
Added to the final sentence was a handwritten note reading: `Ministers
also like to be served liquor!'
Mr Ó Tuathail said authorities turn a blind eye to diplomatic imports
of drink provided there was no mention of the contents on the shipping
documents.
In the 1978 letter, the diplomat referred to a telex note about
furniture costs which he sent to Mr Hawkes detailing three payments
from separate bank accounts, totalling $13,375.
Other newly released papers show a more complicated side to the world
of diplomacy than drinks receptions at the ambassador's residence.
Among correspondence in the file from the Department of Foreign
Affairs was a letter from the Spanish embassy in 1975. It announced
the embassy `has the honour to inform the department' that on April
14th a hold-up took place at the branch office of a nearby bank, the
Bank of Ireland on Merrion Road.
Gardaí had pursued the offenders and officers in uniform and plain
clothes entered the embassy grounds in search of the robbers. While
the embassy was grateful to the Garda, `the Spanish embassy would be
very grateful if it were possible to have the gardaí instructed to
request permission to enter the premises in cases such as the one
referred to,' it said.
A handwritten note said `the chief superintendent' had been spoken to
about the matter. `He informed me that armed bank robbers entered the
embassy grounds followed by gardaí in hot pursuit. He thought that in
similar circumstances in future the gardaí might do the same,' the
message said.
`I would propose not to reply to the embassy note, but to mention the
security considerations to the ambassador or secretary at a suitable
opportunity.'
The Turkish embassy in Dublin wrote to the Department of Foreign
Affairs in August 1979 and highlighted attacks on various Turkish
diplomats around the world by the `Armenian Liberation Army'.In view
of the above, it would be `greatly appreciated' if the Department of
Foreign Affairs alerted the `competent authorities' to instruct gardaí
at the embassy to `exercise utmost vigilance' while on duty.
`The instructions are urgently needed in the case of the ambassador's
residence where the officer on duty has been observed on several
instances engaged in conversation with other tenants in the building
or dozing off under the staircase,' the message said. - (Additional
reporting: PA)
The Irish Times
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Secret move to transport State exam papers'It was the most bitter
confrontation in the history of the State'Gift elephant resulted in
jumbo transportation billTraining of Egyptian pilots raised doubts at
department levelSafe And Sound 'Boat People' ArriveHaughey challenged
early on to define his policy on Northern IrelandFIONA
GARTLANDDIPLOMACY: IRISH DIPLOMATS in Saudi Arabia smuggled in alcohol
concealed under false shipping labels to dodge the Islamic state's
drink ban, official files reveal.
Department of Foreign Affairs papers from 1977-78 show the Embassy in
Jeddah used an Italian company to secretly ship in cases of wine and
whiskey using documents marked `preserves or furniture'.
The then ambassador Eamon Ó Tuathail stressed the importance of having
liquor available for ministerial visits, and he wrote several letters
to the Irish Embassy in Rome to help arrange the secret shipments,
using Trieste-based firm Alberti.
`As usual, Alberti should arrange that the boxes inside the containers
should be sealed and have no indication on the outside as to
contents,' the ambassador wrote to official Billy Hawkes in Rome in
February 1978.
`The shipping documents should show `furniture'.
`We now have the police sitting outside both the office and residence!'
The diplomat insisted the Embassy needed to stock up on supplies in
case a government minister visited. `While it would be pleasant to
have an odd drink oneself, I am concerned that we may have a
ministerial visit either before or after the summer,' he wrote in an
earlier letter in May 1977.
`For that we need liquor. Most Saudis expect to be served alcohol at
diplomatic receptions.'
Added to the final sentence was a handwritten note reading: `Ministers
also like to be served liquor!'
Mr Ó Tuathail said authorities turn a blind eye to diplomatic imports
of drink provided there was no mention of the contents on the shipping
documents.
In the 1978 letter, the diplomat referred to a telex note about
furniture costs which he sent to Mr Hawkes detailing three payments
from separate bank accounts, totalling $13,375.
Other newly released papers show a more complicated side to the world
of diplomacy than drinks receptions at the ambassador's residence.
Among correspondence in the file from the Department of Foreign
Affairs was a letter from the Spanish embassy in 1975. It announced
the embassy `has the honour to inform the department' that on April
14th a hold-up took place at the branch office of a nearby bank, the
Bank of Ireland on Merrion Road.
Gardaí had pursued the offenders and officers in uniform and plain
clothes entered the embassy grounds in search of the robbers. While
the embassy was grateful to the Garda, `the Spanish embassy would be
very grateful if it were possible to have the gardaí instructed to
request permission to enter the premises in cases such as the one
referred to,' it said.
A handwritten note said `the chief superintendent' had been spoken to
about the matter. `He informed me that armed bank robbers entered the
embassy grounds followed by gardaí in hot pursuit. He thought that in
similar circumstances in future the gardaí might do the same,' the
message said.
`I would propose not to reply to the embassy note, but to mention the
security considerations to the ambassador or secretary at a suitable
opportunity.'
The Turkish embassy in Dublin wrote to the Department of Foreign
Affairs in August 1979 and highlighted attacks on various Turkish
diplomats around the world by the `Armenian Liberation Army'.In view
of the above, it would be `greatly appreciated' if the Department of
Foreign Affairs alerted the `competent authorities' to instruct gardaí
at the embassy to `exercise utmost vigilance' while on duty.
`The instructions are urgently needed in the case of the ambassador's
residence where the officer on duty has been observed on several
instances engaged in conversation with other tenants in the building
or dozing off under the staircase,' the message said. - (Additional
reporting: PA)