Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I always try to bring my own experience to Dáil debates. I have a background in the grocery trade. My first job after I left school was in a grocery shop in London. When I came home, I got a job with Carton Brothers, an old Irish company with connections to Carrickmacross, in Halston Street where it had a cash and carry. After that I progressed to another company, Lee and Company, which held the Mace franchise. There were at least two Mace shops in Carrickmacross so the Ceann Comhairle will be aware of my experience. Over the years I always took an interest in the grocery trade. Had I not been working in Lee and Company in 1969, I would not have moved to Tallaght and would not live there now. God only knows what I would be doing.

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