yeltsin visit to ireland

Yeltsin Makes Comeback in Ireland

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20 years since Boris Yeltsin kept the Taoiseach waiting

Richard Fitzpatrick looks back at the day the Russian premier couldn’t be roused from his plane to meet the Taoiseach

Derry Molony, 61, was working as an airline rep at Shannon Airport that morning. “The first I noticed about it was that I saw the army band practicing on the ramp. I went into Aer Lingus Operations where my late brother, Liam, was working in Control. I said, ‘What is the band doing out there?’ He said, ‘Boris Yeltsin is arriving shortly.’

“Then Albert Reynolds appeared. The aircraft appeared. It pulled in just at the corner of the pier building, and there were steps up to it. There was a lovely red carpet at the end of the steps, and the army band playing away, waiting for the door to open. Albert Reynolds was there, standing, looking up at the aircraft. This went on and on and on.

“About 10 of us were inside in Aer Lingus Operations looking out, and the comments were being passed. We were all wondering: will the door open, won’t the door open? What’s going to happen?”

Out on the tarmac, Reynolds stood, with his hands cupped out front, beside a few of his ministers and TDs, including Bertie Ahern, Willie O’Dea and Brian Cowen, who jigged on the spot. The plane had circled overhead for about an hour before landing.

Reynolds recalled in his memoirs: “I was waiting along with the rest of the reception party when the message came through that our very important visitor, the Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, was ‘indisposed’ and there would be a delay in his arrival.

The delaying tactics had no effect. Yeltsin failed to appear. An air hostess carried a bouquet of flowers from Mrs Kathleen Reynolds on board the plane for Mrs Yeltsin.

Eventually, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Oleg Soskovets, emerged from the plane and spoke with Reynolds for half an hour. He explained that Yeltsin was asleep, and that the Russian president would be unable to attend a scheduled news conference about the Northern Ireland peace process. He invited Reynolds to visit Russia. A planned reception at Dromoland Castle nearby was cancelled.

The plane went on its way to Russia. Reynolds denied he’d been snubbed. He told the assembled media on the runway that he understood the Russian president’s predicament. “I completely understand – Mr Yeltsin was acting on the orders of doctors who said it would be better for him not to get off the plane. He’s very ill after the long travelling, as his blood pressure is going up and down. It’s understandable that they didn’t want to take him off the flight.”

When Yeltsin’s plane landed in Moscow, he denied that illness prevented him from alighting from the aircraft in Shannon. “I feel excellent – I can tell you honestly,” he said. “I just overslept. My security guards should have woken me up at Shannon.”

There is a postscript to the story. In August 2006, a year before Yeltsin died, he finally visited Co Clare. He was taken for a day’s deep-sea fishing as part of a three-day trip. Willie O’Callaghan took Yeltsin and an entourage of about 20 out around Hag’s Head on his cruiser, True Light, departing from Liscannor pier, and stopping off on Inis Oírr Island for lunch.

“The man was very frail,” says O’Callaghan. “I’d say he was on his last legs. He had two big male nurses linking him onto the boat. I’d say they were about seven foot and 20 stoners. He was a huge man himself but he was dwarfed alongside them. I was sworn to secrecy and away we went.

“We went up along the Cliffs of Moher. He wanted to catch a shark. He made several attempts to go fishing. He’d sit out in the back of the boat and the guys would actually have to hold the rod for him. He’d just twist the handle. The poor aul divil was that frail.

“There was no sign of a shark. We were catching big pollock, cod and ling. ‘Bait, bait, bait,’ he kept saying. They were only scraps. At one stage, he looked at me and threatened me. The translators told me, ‘He’s after telling you that if you don’t get him a shark that he’s going to send you to the salt mines in Siberia for the rest of your life.’”

Richard Fitzpatrick looks back at the day the Russian president couldn’t be roused from his plane to meet the Taoiseach

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When a Russian President Ended Up Drunk and Disrobed Outside the White House

By: Becky Little

Updated: July 25, 2023 | Original: April 3, 2018

Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin had a weird relationship. There was the time the Russian president gave the U.S. president a pair of hockey jerseys that said “Yeltsin 96” and “Clinton 96.” There was also the time Clinton doubled over laughing when Yeltsin called the U.S. press “a disaster” at a press conference.

But perhaps the weirdest incident in their professional relationship was when Yeltsin got drunk and wandered into the street in his underwear, trying to get a pizza.

The incident happened during Yeltsin and Clinton’s first meeting in Washington in September 1994. Although there were glancing media reports about it over the years, it wasn’t widely reported on until 2009, when author Taylor Branch published his book The Clinton Tapes , based on his interviews with the president.

“Secret Service agents discovered Yeltsin alone on Pennsylvania Avenue, dead drunk, clad in his underwear, yelling for a taxi,” Branch wrote in his book. “Yeltsin slurred his words in a loud argument with the baffled agents. He did not want to go back into Blair House, where he was staying. He wanted a taxi to go out for pizza.”

When Branch asked Clinton how the situation ended, the president shrugged and said, “Well, he got his pizza.” But the next night, Clinton recalled, Yeltsin tried to do it again.

“Eluding security, he made his way down the back stairs into the Blair House basement, where a building guard mistook him for a drunken intruder,” Branch wrote. “Yeltsin was briefly endangered until converging Russian and American agents sorted out everyone’s affiliation.” Because the guards mistook him for an intruder, “Clinton thought this incident, although contained within Blair House, exposed even greater risk than the pizza quest.”

Unfortunately, these nighttime escapades illustrated a larger problem that Yeltsin had with alcohol. The Washington Post has reported that during the 1995 press conference where Yeltsin called the U.S. press “a disaster,” he was drunk on white wine. In another Post article, the former deputy secretary of state under Clinton suggested that the reason the U.S. president  had laughed so hard at Yeltsin’s “disaster” jibe was because he was trying to cover for how drunk the Russian president was. Another time, Yeltsin reportedly called Clinton while inebriated and asked him to hold a secret meeting on a submarine.

During Yeltsin’s presidency from 1991 to 1999, his alcoholism worsened to the point where he was frequently stumbling and falling over. He also exhibited inappropriate behavior on camera, such as when he pinched a couple of female secretaries in front of reporters. These antics have now become a part of his legacy as a world leader.

Upon his death in 2007, the German newspaper Der Spiegel nodded to this fact with a notably blunt obituary title : “The Rise and Fall of the Drunken Czar.”

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Boris Yeltsin's magic moments

Boris Yeltsin may be dead but memories of his high jinks while in office will live on, thanks to YouTube.

● Many Russians may prefer to forget his David Brent-style dance routine but watch it here in its full glory.

● Here is Yeltsin causing Bill Clinton to collapse with laughter , at a press conference in the same year.

● Another quick gem: this time chucking a woman in the sea .

When Yeltsin first came to power he was far from a figure of fun. In August 1991 he was seen as a democratic hard man when he stood on a tank to denounce those trying to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev.

But later his career was overshadowed by ill health and drinking bouts.

In 1994 after a particularly liquid lunch with the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Yeltsin snatched the baton from the conductor of a police orchestra, and pretended to conduct them while blowing kisses to the crowd.

A month later Yeltsin failed to get off the presidential plane in Ireland for a meeting the Irish premiere Albert Reynolds.

Photograph: Martin McCullough/PA

Legend has it that plane had previously circled six times over the airport in the hope that he might sober up. The phrase "circling over Shannon" has since passed into Irish drinking slang.

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Yeltsin cancels Dutch visit on doctors' advice

The russian president, mr boris yeltsin, has cancelled a visit to the netherlands on the orders of his doctors, a kremlin spokesman….

THE Russian President, Mr Boris Yeltsin, has cancelled a visit to the Netherlands on the orders of his doctors, a Kremlin spokesman said yesterday.

A spokesman said doctors had advised Mr Yeltsin, who is recovering from pneumonia at an official residence outside Moscow, to refrain from air travel and to work at home. "Because of this, agreement has been reached with the government of the Netherlands and the chairman of the European Union to postpone the visit to the Netherlands. It will take place in Moscow in the near future."

Mr Yeltsin had been due to hold talks in The Hague with the Dutch Prime Minister, Mr Wim Kok, on, February 4th. Mr Kok is the current president of the European Union.

Aides have said the President is recovering well from the pneumonia, which struck just two weeks after he returned to the Kremlin following a major heart operation. They say he his following affairs of state and working on papers, including an address to both houses of parliament due to be delivered next month.

Interfax news agency yesterday quoted the Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, saying that Mr Yeltsin was looking at both domestic and international policy. "The President is returning to good form and will be in good form," he said.

Mr Chernomyrdin said last week that the President would be back in the Kremlin soon. But doctors, urging him not to rush his return to work, say he should wait two or three weeks.

In Bonn, German government officials said yesterday said they knew nothing of a report in Bild newspaper saying they were concerned that Mr Yeltsin might have Parkinson's Disease.

The report said that symptoms such as facial rigidity, a slowing down of limb movements and uncontrolled mouth movements had increased over the last two years.

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The History Hit Miscellany of Facts, Figures and Fascinating Finds

• 20th Century

10 Facts About Boris Yeltsin

Owen Howells Ottin

04 mar 2022.

Boris Yeltsin was president of Russia from 1991 to 1999, the first popularly and freely elected leader in Russian history. Ultimately, Yeltsin was a mixed figure on the international stage, variously considered a heroic visionary who helped bring down the USSR peacefully and took Russia into a new era, yet also a chaotic and ineffective alcoholic, more often the focus of ridicule than praise.

Yeltsin left a freer world, playing a pivotal role in the collapse of the Soviet Union , yet underdelivered on many of the promises of economic prosperity he made to the Russian people. His presidency was characterised by Russia’s move to a free-market economy, conflicts in Chechnya and his own recurring health struggles.

Here are 10 facts about Boris Yeltsin.

1. His family were purged

The year before Yeltsin was born in 1931, Yeltsin’s grandfather Ignatii was accused of being a kulak (wealthy peasant) during Stalin’s purges . The family’s lands were confiscated, and Yeltsin’s grandparents were sent to Siberia. Yeltsin’s parents were forced into a kholkoz (collective farm).

2. He lost his finger playing catch with a grenade

Whilst at secondary school, Yeltsin was an active sportsman and prankster. One prank backfired spectacularly, when the grenade he was playing with exploded, taking off the thumb and index finger of his left hand.

3. He admitted to reading illegal literature

Despite being a devout communist to begin with, Yeltsin became disillusioned with the totalitarian and hard-line elements of the regime. This was reinforced, he would later claim, when he read an illegal copy of The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The book, detailing the worst atrocities of the Gulag system , became a key read in the underground literature or ‘samzidat’ of the USSR.

Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, Boris Yeltsin, in a crowd of press at the Kremlin. 1991.

Image Credit: Konstantin Gushcha / Shutterstock.com

4. He resigned from the Politbureau in 1987

Yeltsin handed in his resignation from the Politbureau (the control centre of the USSR’s Communist Party) in 1987. Before this resignation, Yeltsin had been openly critical of the party’s stunted reforms and, by extension, of the USSR’s leader at the time, Mikhail Gorbachev. This marked the first time in history that someone had voluntarily resigned from the Politbureau.

5. He once gave a speech sitting on the barrel of a tank

On 18 August 1991, just over two months after being elected as president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR), Yeltsin found himself defending the USSR from a coup by communist hardliners opposed to Gorbachev’s reforms. Yeltsin sat atop one of the coup-plotters’ tanks in Moscow and rallied the crowd. Soon after the coup failed, and Yeltsin emerged a hero.

6. Yeltsin signed the Belovezh Accords in 1991

On 8 December 1991, Yeltsin signed the Belovezh Accords in a ‘dacha’ (holiday cottage) in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in Belarus, effectively ending the USSR. He was accompanied by the leaders of the Belarussian and Ukrainian SSRs. Kazakhstan’s leader attempted to join but his plane was diverted.

Yeltsin had gone into the meeting to discuss the restructuring of the USSR, yet in a matter of hours and many drinks later, the death warrant of the state was signed. The original document was found to have gone missing in 2013.

7. He had major alcohol issues

An intoxicated Yeltsin, on a visit to US President Bill Clinton , was once found running down Pennsylvania Ave, wearing only his pants, trying to hail a taxi and order a pizza. He only returned to his hotel when he was promised a pizza would be delivered.

Yeltsin also once played the spoons on the head of the (bald) President Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan.

President Clinton laughing at a joke made by President Yeltsin. 1995.

Image Credit: Ralph Alswang via Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

8. He embarrassed a party of Irish officials in 1994

On 30 September 1994, Yeltsin left a party of dignitaries, including Irish ministers, waiting awkwardly on the runways of Ireland’s Shannon Airport after allegedly being too drunk or hungover to depart the plane.

Yeltsin’s daughter would later claim her father had suffered a heart attack. ‘Circling over Shannon’ would go on to become a euphemism for being too drunk to function in Ireland. The incident raised questions about Yeltsin’s health and capacity to function.

9. He came very close to nuclear war

In January 1995 a team of scientists launched a rocket to help study the Northern Lights from Svalbard in Norway . The Russian military, still fearful of a US attack, interpreted this as a potential first strike, and Yeltsin was brought the nuclear suitcase. Thankfully, nuclear armageddon was averted when the true purpose of the rocket was established.

10. He became erratic towards the end of his presidency

In the last days of his presidency, facing 2% approval ratings, Yeltsin became increasingly erratic, hiring and firing ministers almost daily. When he finally resigned on 31 December 1999, the relatively unknown figure he’d appointed as his successor was the last man standing in the game of musical chairs. That man was Vladimir Putin .

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10 unmissable places to visit in Ireland

Mar 5, 2024 • 9 min read

The sweeping landscape of County Kerry is only the beginning of the most incredible places to visit in Ireland © Matt Anderson Photography / Getty Images

Ireland is a country of contrasts. To the west, its ocean coastline has towering sea cliffs, powder-soft beaches, medieval castles, historic villages and forlornly beautiful islands where locals still nurture ancient traditions. The midlands harbor lesser-seen towns and meandering blue trails that follow the path of the River Shannon along rich green countryside. Dublin and Belfast to the east and north offer all the rich culture and diversity you’d expect to find in a large, modern metropolis.

With so many places to choose from, it’s not always easy to know where to go in Ireland , so we've handpicked the best places to stay to suit every taste and every changing mood.

Choose 3, 4, 5, or 7 top Dublin attractions and enjoy great savings with Go City. Taste the world-famous Irish drink at Guinness Storehouse, enjoy the sights on Big Bus Dublin Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour, or discover Dublinʼs oldest building, Christ Church Cathedral - the choice is yours!

1. Inishowen Peninsula, County Donegal

Best place for a road trip

This is the final slice (or trailhead) of the magnificent Wild Atlantic Way, a coastal odyssey that connects this most northerly tip of Ireland to the south along the western seaboard. Inishowen has a hundred-mile sign-posted loop trail that covers the major attractions around the peninsula from any starting point. It’s one of the best places to visit in Ireland for a weekend, as it’s easily navigated over a couple of days.

Start the drive north by navigating the easterly contours of Lough Swilly before moving inland from  Fort Dunree to discover a highlight, Mamore Gap. It’s a narrow, curving road that snakes through the Urris Hills with spectacular coastal views. Before weaving on towards Tullagh Strand , there’s a wonderful detour to Glenevin Waterfall. The route passes one beauty spot after another, like Five Finger Strand (which has hazardous swimming conditions) and Knockamany, before arriving at the top of the world at  Banba’s Crown on Malin Head.

Planning tip: Travel in the off-season (November to Easter) for the best chance to catch Inishowen’s famous northern lights (Aurora Borealis) stenciled onto a dark sky.

2. Northwest Mayo

Best places for beaches

With a jagged, vast coastline, towering sea stacks and off-the-radar islands,  County Mayo offers beach settings that are framed by spectacular backdrops. Mulranny , with its bone-white powdery sand, has turquoise water that swirls around its contours. It once lured John Lennon and Yoko Ono on a "second honeymoon," and it’s also the gateway to Achill Island’s Keel Strand, which has miles of dunes to fly kites and jaw-dropping views of Slievemore and the Mweelaun Cliffs. 

Keem Bay is further west on Achill, and it is arguably Ireland’s most beautiful beach. It’s sheltered by giant cliffs that rise up to the north and south like a natural amphitheater. North of Achill is the Erris Peninsula which has Elly Bay, a safe beach with shallow waters, or Glosh and Crosshead Beaches, which offer dangerous, menacing waves. Head off-grid to Blacksod Pier to catch a ferry to the Inishkea Islands and discover a magnificent beach fringed by an abandoned village and pristine ocean waters.

Local tip: Rinroe, a secret cove north of Erris, has caverns that offer a good photo op.

3. Kilkenny

Best city for history

The medieval mile in Ireland’s prettiest city center is a living museum. Yes, there are countless ticketed heritage sites like  Kilkenny Castle and the  Medieval Mile Museum , which offer a fascinating glimpse into the area’s past (and rooftop views), but a ramble around "The Marble City’s" beating heart is the best way to discover its past. A self-guided walking tour of the Medieval Mile takes in sites like the  Black Abbey ,  Saint Canice’s Cathedral and Round Tower and the Butter Slip – an atmospheric laneway that exudes old-world charm.

As one of the best nightlife spots in Ireland for centuries, expect the pubs in this pint-sized city to have a great backstory.  Kyteler’s Inn on St Kieran’s Street harbors a dark past with trumped-up witchcraft convictions, and Kilkenny’s brewing pedigree is showcased at the  Smithwick’s Experience on Parliament Street and  Sullivan’s Tap Room on John’s Street.

4. Limerick City

Best city for sport

Large stadiums and racetracks orbit the heart of Ireland’s third city while its narrow cobbled lanes and broad avenues have pubs, like  Jerry Flannery’s on Catherine Street or  JJ Bowles near  King John’s Castle , for post-match banter. The Limerick team is the reigning national champions at hurling, one of the fastest and oldest field sports on the planet, but it’s rugby that gets pulses racing in "The Treaty City."  Thomond Park Stadium gives the backstory to the 1978 match, when the local team and underdogs beat the famous All Blacks from New Zealand.

A brand new multistory  International Rugby Experience in O’Connell Street has redefined Limerick’s roofscape. Adare Manor , a resort and golf club a short drive from the city center, will host the 2027 Ryder Cup. The  Great Limerick Run draws crowds every May weekend, and cyclists venture to the countryside for mountain biking at  Ballyhoura or to the  Limerick Greenway for off-road trails as far as Kerry.

5. Dublin City

Best city for LGBTIQ+ travelers

A statue of playwright Oscar Wilde reclines on a bed of quartz near his home on Merrion Square with a wry smile that conveys playful puzzlement. About 120 years after he was imprisoned for gross indecency, almost to the day, Ireland became the first country in the world to legalize gay marriage by popular vote, and Wilde’s hometown was engulfed with rainbow flags for the occasion.

The  party continues in the capital’s landmark gay bar,  The George , which is one of the best places to visit in Dublin for members of the LGBTIQ+ community.  Pantibar on Capel Street and Street 66 on Parliament Street are more laid back, and Mother on Grafton Street is for weekend clubbing. The city’s annual Pride Festival rivals the St Patrick’s Day parade for bringing the city to a standstill. Both GAZE , a film event in September, and the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in May mark the LGBTIQ+ community’s contribution to Ireland’s performing arts.  

6. Galway City

Best city for food

The scent of aromatic spices is carried on the fresh Atlantic breeze that passes through the cobbled lanes off Quay Street, the medieval heart of Galway . Top local restaurants like  Ard Bia at Nimmos cluster around its southern tip at  Spanish Arch because of its romantic setting, making it one of the best places for couples to visit in Ireland. It was once a trading post where galleons carried cargos of wine and food.

Cava Bodega continues that fusion of the experimental with traditional with their imaginative tapas, and on Middle Street,  Anair , the flagship restaurant of master chef JP McMahon is five minutes away.  Éan , a contemporary space down the moodily lit Druid Lane, sells exquisite artisan pastries. With fresh catch arriving from the ocean to the city by the trawler load, expect humble fish and chips with a difference at  McDonagh’s on Quay Street.  Sheridan’s Cheese on Nicholas Street offers the best dairy produce from the land.

Planning tip: Travel in the September shoulder season for the  Galway International Oyster Festival . 

7. County Clare

Best place to catch a tune

County Clare ’s coastline attracts visitors by the busload for the Micho Russel Festival in  Doolin , near the  Cliffs of Moher , late in February. It’s the place to catch a lively traditional (trad) music session at any time of year, with  Gus O’Connor’s Pub packing in visitors to the rafters.

For something slower and more sentimental, visit the medieval banquet at  Bunratty Castle or Knappogue , where you can listen to harpists and vocalists harmonize Ireland’s past over a glass of honeyed mead and spare ribs. Ennis hosts the annual Fleadh Nua every May, when the entire town moves in rhythm with the bodhrán (Irish drum). Its pubs showcase a nightly blast of trad at  Brogan’s and  Knox’s or contemporary live music at  Nora Culligan's on Abbey Street.

Local tip:  True music aficionados head to the east side of the county towards Lough Derg, where the pubs cupped in fern green valleys –like Shortt’s Bar in Feakle – host top performers nightly. 

8. Causeway Coast, County Antrim

Best place to hike

Located between Belfast and Derry on the north Antrim coastline, the Causeway Coast has a seascape that’s smooth as whipped cream in some locations and jagged as broken ice in others. But it’s always fascinating. At a 20-mile (34km) distance of moderate difficulty, and blessed with spectacular scenery, it’s one of the best places to hike in Ireland.

The eastern leg has stunning settings, like the Gobbins Cliff Path on Islandmagee Peninsula, but if time is restricted, travel west by train to hike to the heavy hitters that are crammed within 10 miles of each other. Starting at the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, which jigs and sways over the waves below, head west past the  Giant’s Causeway to the spectacular  Dunluce Castle that teeters on a cliff edge. Round off with a visit to the  Old Bushmill’s Distillery to get the blood flowing.

Planning tip:  Build in a detour to  The Dark Hedges ,  nine miles south of Carrick-a-Rede.

9. West Cork

Best place for families

Ocean spray and homemade ice cream are just a taste of why this expansive, meandering coastline, with its necklace of charming seaside villages, is one of the best places for families to visit in Ireland. Take a walking tour around pretty  Kinsale to discover stories of notorious seafarers like Alexander Selkirk, who inspired Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, and Pirate Queen Anne Bonny. Or meander by the ramparts of star-shaped  Charles Fort . For another epic activity, take a whale-watching  boat tour from Baltimore to catch a glimpse of a magnificent humpback or baleen rise and fall beneath the clear ocean water.

Days can be spent lazing, surfing and horse-riding by the white dunes of  Barley Cove or  Inchydoney Beach , or k ayaking with seals near Glengarriff.  Ireland’s only cable car leaves from Beara  to cross ocean waters to Dursey Island. Mizen Head, Ireland’s most southerly point, has an interpretive signal station that is accessed by footbridge over wild Atlantic waves.

10. Iveragh Peninsula, County Kerry

Best place for sensational views

For an out-of-this-world excursion, catch the ferry from brightly painted Portmagee to one of the most beautiful places in Ireland.  Skellig Michael, a small mountainous UNESCO World Heritage site, doubles as the windswept island sanctuary on the planet Ahch-To in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015) and Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017).

Back on the mainland, the superlative landscapes will continue to impress with  Ladies View , which has panoramic views over the Lakes of Killarney.  Torc Waterfall on the northern tip of  The Ring of Kerry is better recorded than photographed with the powerful sound of the water pounding in the background. Head to Cronin’s Yard to scale and capture  Carrauntoohil, Ireland’s highest mountain, which towers over the entire peninsula and ocean.

Planning tip:  The ferry service to Skellig Michael is extremely popular (and weather dependent), so it’s necessary to book months in advance to secure tickets.

This article was first published May 2021 and updated March 2024

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