BILL CLINTON BUYS NEW HOME IN IRELAND

News Telegraph.UK ^ | Thomas Harding, Ireland Correspondent

[AnimalLover]

Bill Clinton yesterday united his two loves, Ireland and golf, by buying a two-bedroom apartment that overlooks a Ryder Cup venue.

The property comes with full membership for two to the prestigious Kildare Hotel and Country Club - better known as the K Club - 30 miles south-west of Dublin where an 18-hole round costs £190 and first year membership is £60,000.

The former American president, who has called Ireland his second home, struck a deal with an estate agent friend for an £850,000 flat while playing golf in Northern Ireland last weekend.

It is thought to be the first time a former president has bought a property outside the American continent.

Mr Clinton, 56, bought flat No 702, The Village, "unseen" through his friend Arthur French. Appropriately the deal was struck between holes at Royal County Down golf course.

Mr French's son, John Bosco French, said: "He was playing with my father. He'd been over and back a bit lately and he was talking about buying a base here and last Sunday evening he decided on the K Club."

The deal is with solicitors and Mr Clinton should be given the apartment keys later in the summer.

His purchase was perhaps swayed by the expansive estate agent description of "an exceptional proposition to any discerning investor" that offers "seclusion and tranquillity from the outside world".

A chance to buy one of the 60 apartments "provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reside in a prestigious country estate". However, at 1,350 sq ft the apartment is not on a grand scale.

The complex, where prices range from about £660,000 to £1 million, overlooks a courtyard of fountains and landscaped gardens giving it "an exclusivity that is simply unrivalled".

Mr Clinton will be able to play on both 18-hole courses at the club where America's top golfers are to take on Europe in the biennial Ryder Cup in 2006.

But at the clubhouse there was a curt "no comment" on the news of Mr Clinton's purchase.

The course, recognised as one of Europe's finest, was designed by Arnold Palmer. It hosted the European Open last week.

The club is next to the small village of Straffan where it is not uncommon to see the golfers Tiger Woods and Mark O'Meara, the Formula One team boss Eddie Jordan and the pop singer Ronan Keating.

George Bush senior, whom Mr Clinton defeated in the 1994 presidential election, has been known to fish in the area.

Mr Clinton's neighbours will be from Ireland's elite including Michael Smurfit, one of the richest men in Ireland; JP McManus and John Magnier, the racing tycoons and part-owners of Manchester United; and Tom Coughlan, the Wal-Mart chief executive.

A fortnight ago the King of Malaysia viewed an adjoining property and 12 apartments are still for sale.

The unfurnished apartment comes with a combined living and dining room, kitchen and two bathrooms.

It is unclear what provision would be made for Secret Service agents but The Village is hidden by "ancient trees and a 17th century walled garden". On leaving office Mr Clinton had legal bills totalling millions of dollars over the Whitewater, Monica Lewinsky and other affairs. However, he is said to command as much as $1 million for an after-dinner speech.

Like previous occupants of the White House, Mr Clinton recognised the electoral benefits of tracing his Irish roots - in his case to Roslea, Co Fermanagh.

The Irish appear to have taken Mr Clinton to their hearts. A statue in Ballybunion, Co Kerry, was erected in his honour after he played a couple of rounds. An estimated 100,000 people turned out to welcome him when he arrived in Belfast in 1995.

Mr Clinton, who named his new Labrador "Seamus" following the death of "Buddy", is reportedly preparing to learn the Irish language after he was presented with a self-teaching pack on a visit to Londonderry last weekend.

He won respect in most of Northern Ireland for using his office to urge all sides to sign the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

While no statues have been erected in Ulster, a library, hotel suite and cafe on the republican Falls Road have been named in Mr Clinton's honour.

[AnimalLover]

Is it at all possible for someone to send this guy (Hillary too) to some other planet? I'm so sick of him "drowning" out the really important news in the world. I assume you have all read about our dear, Ex-President telling Tony Blair he should cut ties with President Bush because any kind of bond would ruin his career.

The address of his new flat is 702 - I think it should be "666"! Do I sound bitter? What do you think?

[Support Free Republic]

CHEAP THRILLS - $1 (the first one's free!)
	If every FR member gave a buck a month, we wouldn't need fundraisers. Donate Here By Secure Server Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD- It is in the breaking news sidebar!

[Burkeman1]

Get used to it. Clinton and his wife are never going away- we are stuck with them mouthing off and hearing details of their lives for at least the next 20 to 30 years. But I still predict Clinton will rape the wrong woman sometime soon or do something criminal in the future. There will be criminal charges against Clinton within ten years.

[South40]

My condolences to the Irish people.

[scannell]

GEE, I would have never otherwise know that there was a good supply of loose women in Ireland.

[Paul Atreides]

I would have thought, long before now, that someone's boyfriend or husband would have done something to him. I say this in all seriousness.

[Paul Atreides]

Mr Clinton, 56, bought flat No 702, The Village, "unseen" through his friend Arthur French. Appropriately the deal was struck between holes at Royal County Down golf course.

He seems to do a lot of business through friends. I imagine someone will be left holding the bag.

[JusPasenThru]

"There are loose women and there are whores and then there are Bill Clinton's whores" (quote from "Ryan's Daughter").

[Burkeman1]

He has always been protected. He was the attorney general of Arkansas when he raped Juanita- even at Oxford he was a politically protected American when he may have raped a girl there.

[AlaninSA]

Dang it all, anyway.

I'm the father of two daughters. We were planning on a potential family vacation to Ireland in a couple of years. Guess that's off now.

Children must be protected from sexual predators.

[Paul Atreides]

It's a bitter irony.

[kellynla]

Let God take care of him on Judgment Day.

[solo gringo]

I think they stole so much furniture from the white house they needed a place to hide it.They don't want people finding out just how big of thiefs they are.

[kellynla]

Don't let this deter you from vacationing in Ireland. It's a big, beautiful country and very inexpensive to boot. He may not last long there. My people don't take kindly to sexual deviates.

[kdmhcdcfld]

Sounds like the country in which he will eventually "establish" his citizenship, thereby making him elegible to head the un-United Nations...

[mystery-ak]

That's the problem...he has always had bodyguards so he has never had to fear the husband or boyfriend.....he has free rein.

[oyez]

Also there just has to be some sort of tax evasion, money laundering, legal dodge angle to all this.

[ahadams2]

I agree. It has become obvious that billyjeff wants to be head honcho of the UN so he can use it to do his bidding (and get richer in the process. Since there's that inconvenient UN regulation which forbids several of the superpowers from ever accepting any of the senior positions, he's got to find someplace else to establish a base of operations. That it happens to be next to a golf course is just an added fringe benefit.

[Calpernia]

Ping

[arly]

is there any possibility that Bubba and Hilda will be moving there?.. permantely?