Sonya Kelly puts a funny spin on her battles with bureaucracy to secure an Irish visa for her Australian girlfriend, writes Pádraic Killeen

TRUE to its Scandinavia roots it happened not with the cutting of a ribbon but the sawing of log – Ikea Dublin’s general manager Garry Deakin extolling to hundreds of eager would-be shoppers the company’s “passion for home furnishings”.

The wait ended today for thousands of Ikea lovers when the Swedish furniture giant opened its first store in the Republic.