One of the late Ted Howell’s many contributions to the maturing of Sinn Fein’s politics was that he introduced the Republican leadership to the delights of French wine, a product he had discovered when he was the IRA’s European representative in the 70’s.

His collection of wines was extensive; Ted himself was known to be partial and he was good company to boot.

His record as a gunrunner was, however, less than stellar and one source went as far as calling his contribution to the IRA’s arsenal ‘pathetic’. Clearly, Howell’s talents lay elsewhere, primarily, as it turns out, as Adams ‘Thank Tank’ supremo, in which capacity he transformed SF’s US arm from an IRA support group to a sophisticated political machine, and helped steer SF to electoral politics.