The new British ambassador to Ireland, Ivor Roberts, turned up at a dinner in the British embassy in Washington last week for the visiting delegations from the RUC and the Garda, who are on a joint FBI training course. He's not involved but was on a round of meetings with Irish-American organisations and media before he takes up his post in Dublin in a couple of weeks.
When the loss of Glencairn, the 19th-century embassy residence in Sandyford, Co Dublin, which was sold in December to a property developer for £26 million plus, was mentioned he said that although they no longer owned it the embassy had promptly taken a lease-back for three years. That's a relief for the many on the guest list who were contemplating the entertainment prospects if the new ambassador had to move into a B&B, as mooted by his staff, while the search for a suitable replacement nearer the city centre continued. Several properties have been viewed but were ruled out on security or space grounds, or both. Roberts has just finished a stint at Oxford where he has been writing a book on the Balkans based on his experience in Belgrade. It was in a jazz club in Belgrade that he last met the number two at the American embassy in Dublin, Earle St Aubin Scarlett. Diplomats get around.