What, on Earth, was Ireland doing in an international organisation devoted to co-ordinating the scientific and technical aspects of wine-making ?

In 2004, for some obscure reason, we joined an international organisation representing 40 wine-producing regions of the world, even though Ireland does niot produce a single bottle of commercial wine.

The only possible explanation for this madness is that some civil servant with a taste for Chateau Lynch Bages, thought it would be nice to meet up with some of the top wine people in the world a few times a year to dfiscuss the finer points of oenology and viticulture over good bottles in some of the world's better restaurants.

The bill f or this exercise is quoted at €14,000 a year, but I wonder if that includes travel and 'subsistence' ?

In any event we are well out of this organisation and the €14,000 is likely to be put to better use.

As they say at Tesco- 'Every Little Helps'.