Garret FitzGerald’s government lavished gifts on Robert Mugabe

The Irish government lavished Zimbabwean premier Robert Mugabe with gifts during his visit to Dublin in 1983, newly declassified files reveal.

Garret FitzGerald’s Fine Gael-led coalition shelled out several times as much on presents for the controversial African leader as they did for the US vice president George Bush, who also visited that year.

Among the centrepiece offerings from the then taoiseach to Mr Mugabe and his first wife Sally Hayfron were a Waterford Crystal bowl and a vase.