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The Irish Government drew up a secret plan during the 1970s to examine the prospect of redrawing the Northern Irish border and integrating up to two-thirds of present-day Northern Ireland into the Republic, according to recently released State Papers.
An African embassy contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs in the 1970s to raise concerns over racially- motivated attacks on its citizens in Dublin and to ask why gardaí were called to the home of one Nigerian man for allegedly bringing Irish girls back there.
President Patrick Hillery and President Mary Robinson both raised the prospect of a return visit to Ireland by Pope John Paul II in the 1980s and 90s.
Embarrassed Irish officials acknowledged the logistical demands of a state visit to Ireland by French president Francois Mitterrand would require the hiring of heavy-lift helicopters as the Air Corps did not have any.
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State papers: Justice minister sought ‘pre-emptive round-up’ of 150 dissident republicans