Cosgrave received death threat prior to US visit

Taoiseach's trip:The Irish diplomatic service in New York received a bomb threat and was told taoiseach Liam Cosgrave would be killed if he accepted an invitation from US president Gerald Ford to travel to the United States in March 1976, according to State files released by the National Archives.

The occasion of the visit, which went ahead as planned five days later, was the celebration of the American bicentennial.

An internal Department of the Taoiseach note on the trip said it was to encourage American investment in Ireland and to emphasise government policy on Northern Ireland with "a considerable amount of reference to the undesirability of American contributions to funds used to purchase arms and explosives in the North".

On March 11th, a telex was sent from the embassy in New York to Dublin saying a threatening phone call had been received. "Threatened that taoiseach would 'not live' if he came to New York," the telex read. "Also threat that consulate and mission would be bombed. Caller was well-spoken woman with American-Irish accent who said her father was a Fenian and that both her brothers died for Ireland."

It continued: "She also said there had been meetings in New York and money would continue to go to the North of Ireland. It would appear similar calls were received by consulate and IDA office here."

The consulate general in Boston received a similar call a day earlier and the secret service had visited the building.

The Irish ambassador in Washington wrote to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin warning of "the likelihood of demonstrations and pickets in most of the cities on the taoiseach's itinerary. These could assume serious proportions in New York and Philadelphia and possibly also in Boston".

Apart from worrying about threats to his life, financial concerns also seemed to surround Cosgrave's trip.

His 19-year-old son, Liam T, accompanied the taoiseach and his wife. Liam Cosgrave jnr would later become a TD and Senator before resigning from Fine Gael following Mahon tribunal revelations about payments to politicians.

The taoiseach was to pay his son's air fare for the trip while the US government would cover other expenses. State files seem to suggest Aer Lingus had been asked to provide the young man with a first-class seat at the economy fare and when this was refused, 14 first-class seats were booked for the official party and one economy seat for the taoiseach's son.

A Department of the Taoiseach official noted: "Aer Lingus were unwilling to give him (Liam jnr) a first-class seat in return for the economy fare so an economy seat has been reserved. It will be situated close to the first-class area and during the flight he may occupy a first-class seat by swapping with one of the taoiseach's party; he must, however, occupy his own seat for take-off and landing."

The taoiseach's American hosts also unknowingly received a much cheaper gift from the Irish delegation than originally planned because a flight cost more than expected.

It had been planned to present the Orderly Book of General Burgoyne for the Saratoga Campaign, a gift valued at about £5,000. However, the taoiseach requested that the outbound flight make a stopover to facilitate his American hosts who were bearing most of the cost of the trip.

That diversion cost £1,000 extra so a department official noted that the taoiseach had agreed that the extra cost could be compensated for by substituting the £5,000 book for a £160 gift. "He will instead present copies of the Irish University Press Documents of the Irish Revolution . . . I understand the cost of these books will be about £160."

The official documents about the trip also show that even a taoiseach's wife can occasionally have doubts about her wardrobe. Vera Cosgrave had contacted the wife of the American Ambassador in Ireland, Walter Curley, to ask what she should wear during the US trip.

A counsellor in the American Embassy, John D Rendahl, passed on a few sartorial tips to one of the taoiseach's aides. "Mr Rendahl confirmed that the dinner in the White House would be a formal occasion and that a long dress would be essential for the occasion," the official wrote to the taoiseach.