THE Asiatic-looking group of men eight in all, being shown round the Dail on its first day back after the summer hols on Wednesday by junior Minister Avril Doyle were from the Republic of Yakutia, a frozen region the size of Western Europe which is six time-zones east of Moscow and somewhere near Mongolia.
The group, who arrived by private jet from Moscow on Sunday morning after what they admitted was a heavy night on the town in their capital, were here at the invitation of Celtic Resources, which has invested in mining in the area where they hope to find gold. Indeed, Celtic chairman Oliver Waldron says the ore body is, the largest known in Russia - its indicated resources are almost 11 million ounces of gold.
The visitors were entertained in the home of one of Celtic Resources' consultants, David Bryans, in Rathfarnham on Sunday night. The party was attended by his sister-in-law, junior DL Minister Liz McManus. The prime minister, Mikhail Nikolaev and his group met Ruairi Quinn to discuss joint ventures and also had talks with the trade board, IBEC and Irish Distillers.