Not since Margaret Thatcher or the Clintons were among us has such security been in evidence. The occasion is this weekend's visit by Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar who, along with Belgian prime minister Wilfried Martins Francois Bayrou, leader of the opposition in France, are jetting in to help their European Peoples' Party colleague John Bruton launch the FG Euro campaign at a rally at 1.30 p.m. tomorrow.
About 1,000 supporters are expected and there will be bands, speeches and walkabouts. Aznar, though, will get most attention. Special security has been arranged and marksmen will be on duty. There is a fear, among the Spanish more than us apparently, that old IRA links with the Basque separatists may not be quite dead yet.