It was a fine, dignified evening when Dr Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former secretary general of the UN, spoke at the Royal College of Surgeons on Monday evening. His lecture "Peace-Keeping In The PostCold War Era" was met with a standing ovation by the 400-strong audience. Professor Kevin M. Cahill, head of the Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine, invited several guests along to the lecture and to dinner afterwards in the department. Lord David Owen, the former British foreign secretary, arrived from London, having delivered the 1993 lecture in the college. Two presidential candidates, Mary McAleese and Adi Roche were there, the latter accompanied by Ali Hewson, and chatted with Nobel Prize winner, Seamus Heaney and his wife Marie Heaney.
Other guests included Brigadier General Patrick F. Nowlan; former junior minister Joan Burton; and publishers Paul Hamlyn and Daniel Boyer.