State Papers: Ballybunion Clinton statue owes origins to Dick Spring's US visit

The statue of former US President Bill Clinton is all masked up in front of the local Garda Station in the north Kerry town of Ballybunion. Picture: Domnick Walsh

The statue of former US president, Bill Clinton in the Co Kerry town of Ballybunion owes its origins to an off-the-cuff remark made to the then Tánaiste and Kerry TD, Dick Spring during a visit to the US in 1994.

State papers revealed the former Labour leader paid a visit to Mr Clinton’s holiday home in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts during which the US president joked that the US would provide $300m (€265m) in aid to Northern Ireland if he could complete a round of golf in under 80 strokes.