SEAN Barrett dismissed the Buckingham Palace guard in London last Wednesday. He was the first Irish Minister for Defence to make an official visit to his counterpart in Britain and the occasion passed almost unnoticed.
It came about following the visit by the British armed forces minister, Nicholas Soames, to Dublin last September when he was given lunch in McKee Barracks and inspected, informally, the Army Equitation School. A return invitation was issued and our man went over for the day.
First there was a trip to see the Household Cavalry in Knightsbridge many of whose horses come from Ireland, and there he was invited to dismiss the guard that protects the monarch. This was followed with a splendid lunch at Lancaster House. attended by Lady Saatchi, otherwise known as novelist Josephine Hart from Mullingar, our ambassador Ted Barrington, Henry Bellingham MP, Northerner Paul Bew, who holds the Parnell Chair at Oxford, and various British army top brass.