Taoiseach’s wine choice delayed Mugabe dinner plans

A state banquet for Zimbabwean prime minister Robert Mugabe was less than stately after Garret FitzGerald took too long to handpick the wine and 30 unaccounted-for guests turned up.

Plans for the Sept 1983 visit and a lavish dinner in Dublin Castle had been going for weeks but the taoiseach annoyed civil servants by leaving a few key decisions to the last minute.

Not only was the table plan for the Dublin Castle dinner incomplete, but FitzGerald spent too much time consulting with his wife Joan on the wine list.