Mr. Greg Mulholland:

If I may, Senator Mullins's last question deserved an answer. He asked what would I bring over to the United Kingdom from Irish bars. I dare say we will visit at least a few Dublin pubs later on and I hope I will come back and visit some pubs in rural areas, as I did some years ago. One of the wonderful aspects is the difference between the two countries, which is all about history in the end. It is due to the very different ways in which pubs emerged. The public house in the United Kingdom emerged from people literally opening up their front rooms to allow others to drink there to supplement their income. One forgets that it was not a big industry; it was to supplement their income. Then there is way the Irish pub developed, with the spirit grocers and so on. There is nothing better than going into a traditional Irish bar where one has a group - generally, but I hope now not always, men - just sitting in conversation at the bar. In previous times they would have been smoking, but not now. It is the ambience created by that. There are a few very basic pubs or bars in the United Kingdom and, certainly, that is the sort of thing I love.

One point I must make is that, despite my being the chairman of the Save the Pub group in the United Kingdom, there is no pub called the Mulholland Bar or the Mulholland Arms, whereas in Ireland there are quite a few. I have not yet visited one. Something I would certainly like to import is a pub called Mulholland.

With regard to the best aspects of the English pub, and the uniqueness of those I call "English" specifically, I particularly love mid-terrace locals. One of my own locals is mid-terrace. It is literally a terraced house between other terraced houses. One would not get that anywhere else. It has a certain quality. Another is a beautiful pub garden in an English pub in one of the attractive rural areas. That is something we do particularly well. However, there are always things that we can learn. We must make these linkages so that we learn the best things in the pub sector. Those of us in Parliament who care about these matters are learning about the positive things each country is doing that can help support and preserve pubs.