Ireland hosts former Russian president

Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin has been enjoying a holiday with a difference in the west of Ireland.

The 75-year-old flew in on Thursday – almost 12 years after famously standing up a delegation of officials at Shannon Airport.

During his three-day private visit, Mr Yeltsin is said to have enjoyed a stay at the lavish five-star Dromoland Castle and travelled to the Cliffs of Moher.

He also went fishing off Co Clare, stopping to have lunch on Inis Oirr.

“He came up on a horse and carriage up from the pier,” said Darren McNamara, chef at Ostan Inis Oirr.

“When he stepped off horse and carriage outside the hotel a few people recognised him and he was waving and smiling to them.

“He came in a side door but left through the main bar where our the resident musician was in a sing-song. He seemed to enjoy that. He was smiling, waved at people and shook hands with everyone he passed.

“He was in high spirits when he left.”

Inis Oirr is the smallest of the three Aran Islands, measuring just 3km in length by 3km in width. It is home to about 350 islanders, the majority of whom speak Irish.

The tiny island is a haven for botanists and nature lovers, with tourists flocking to visit its large three story castle, the ruins of a church, and the wreck of a cargo vessel shipwrecked in the 1960’s.

Mr Yeltsin caused an international stir in September 1994 when his plane circled Shannon Airport for an hour while a group of officials – which included Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and a guard of honour with military band – waited on the tarmac below.

The party, which also boasted Mr Reynold’s wife Kathleen, two ministers, several TDs, and officials from the Russian embassy, was then kept at the steps of the plane for 15 another minutes until it was clear the former premier would not be alighting from his plane.

The event made headlines all over the world.

Following his no-show, the former President denied rumours he had been drinking, adding that he had overslept on his plane and had not been woken up by his staff.