Speculation that Ireland might host a historic summit between US president George Bush Snr and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev encouraged Adare Manor to offer itself as a venue for the meeting.
The speculation arose after a meeting between Taoiseach Charlie Haughey and Gorbachev in April 1989, when the Soviet leader made a stopover at Shannon Airport on his way to Cuba.
After the meeting, Haughey said Ireland had been proposed as a venue for the USSR-US summit and Gorbachev had said it was something that “would be kept in mind and considered”.
That was enough for the then managing director of Adare Manor Christopher Oakes, who wrote to Haughey soon after. “Amid much speculation about the choice of Ireland as a venue for the forthcoming Autumn Summit between Mr Bush and Mr Gorbachev, I would like to propose the magnificent setting of Adare Manor as a venue for this historic summit,” he wrote.
He noted that Haughey had performed the official opening of the hotel the previous September and was already aware of “the beauty and splendour” of the manor. The letter was accompanied by a dossier, outlining the facilities at the Limerick estate.
For more read https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/state-papers-adare-manor-wanted-to-host-ussr-us-summit
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