Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I second the amendment. Further to the words Senator O'Toole used to describe the Minister, I was reminded at this morning's meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs where he explained why he was unable to attend some of those important meetings in Europe because he was so involved in Hillsborough at that time. It is a reminder of the work he put into it.

I declare my own link with the North very clearly. My mother came from north County Armagh on the banks of Lough Neagh and my father came from south County Down. My only sister married a Portadown man. I have strong links with Northern Ireland. I only discovered in recent years how my mother and father met. He was working in Dún Laoghaire and telephoned home to Newry through the operator. He discovered that the operator in the post office in Dún Laoghaire had a northern accent. He chatted her up and made a blind date with her. When I mentioned this story in the post office in Dún Laoghaire I discovered that the book is still there and it states "left upon marriage" in my mother's handwriting from 1931.