Bush officials more interested in pub greeters than getting involved in Northern Ireland question

The Government tried to get George Bush more involved in tackling the Troubles by warning that the USSR would exploit growing IRA support.

State papers have revealed that ahead of a one-day visit to Dublin in 1983, officials said Taoiseach Garrett FitzGerald should use the Soviet Union threat as a way of getting support from the then US vice-president.

The advice was offered amid planning for the Fourth of July arrival, but White House aides were less preoccupied with the Northern Ireland question and more involved in arrangements for a “spontaneous meet-the-people” stop for Mr Bush in a pub.