AN ELEPHANT GIVEN as a gift to President Patrick Hillery in 1979 led to a diplomatic row between Ireland and Tanzania. 

Details of the bizarre dispute were revealed in documents released to the National Archives which show that the government refused to pay the cost of shipping the elephant to Ireland. 

Tanzania is home to the diverse wilderness of Serengeti National Park and Hillery visited the country during his first of two terms as President. 

Hillery was presented with a live elephant as a gift by President Julius Nyerere and it was transported to Dublin Zoo in May 1980.

The three-year-old elephant was named Mimi and she was subsequently moved to Southampton Zoo two years later. 

Months after Mimi’s arrival in Dublin Zoo, however, the Tanzanian government wrote to the Irish Embassy in Dar es Salaam seeking reimbursement of the transport costs.

“The Embassy will recall that the Government of Ireland undertook to pay air freight charges in respect of the one live elephant which was presented to the President of the Republic of Ireland as a gift from the President of the United Republic of Tanzania,” a Tanzanian official wrote according to correspondence released by Department of Foreign Affairs. 

It is in accordance with this undertaking that the Ministry has the honour to request the reimbursement of the sum of 66,063 Tanzanian shilling, it being the cost of transporting by air the live elephant referred to above. 

Irish diplomats were not able to verify whether the Ireland had agreed to pay for the cost of transporting the elephant and the issue was passed to the Department of Foreign Affairs. 

The DFA further contacted the Department of An Taoiseach, saying it did not have the funds to pay for the transfer of the elephant in any case.

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Bloodlines

The incident was not the only unusual gift Hillery was given during his time as President. 

In 1984, leading British racehorse owner Robert Sangster offered to provide one of his stallions for a private liaison with a particular mare in the State-owned Irish National Stud.

The offer required that any offspring from the equine coupling could only run in the President’s colours and that Sangster would be credited for the gift. 

President Hillery accepted the gift and and in a memo from his secretary to the Department of An Taoiseach it was noted that an urgent response was required as the mare was ready for service.