Drinks bill at Baldonnel came to £342.55

DRINKS BILL:A DRINKS BILL of £342.55, or €1,785.68 in today's money, was incurred in the officers' mess at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel at the time of the removal of Lord Mountbatten's body by members of Britain's Royal Air Force on August 30th, 1979. The bill was initially sent to the Department of the Taoiseach by the Department of Foreign Affairs on the basis that Lord Mountbatten was "a member of the British royal family, ie a foreign dignitary".

An internal Department of the Taoiseach memo between officials states: “The attached account totalling £342.55 has been received from the officers mess in Baldonnel. It relates to expenses incurred at the direction of the Dept. of Foreign Affairs. I am not clear who availed of the refreshments, but I feel that there may be a question concerning who should foot the bill. If you agree, I propose to return this to Foreign Affairs and ask them to pay it.”

In a handwritten comment in the margin, the recipient of the memo writes: “I agree. This was a member of the British royal family, ie a foreign dignitary and clearly related to D/FA and not us – if Defence themselves won’t pay.”

The Department of the Taoiseach also received a claim from the private secretary to Jack Lynch for £58.94 (€307.25 today) in telephone expenses incurred in relation to the Mountbatten assassination. The taoiseach was on holiday in Portugal and spent 5,960 escudos (€29.73 today) on calls to Dublin from Portugal.