Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

-----whom he said had hardly left a vote for him. To be honest, he hardly left a vote for any of us.

Peter bore his illness with great strength. When I asked him how he was feeling, he replied that he had told his doctors to double the dose, as this would either kill or cure him. That was the way he operated. He was an inspiration to anybody with the same illness and full of encouragement.

I was a member of the same panel as Peter and we had the same nominating body in the Irish co-operative movement or ICOS. We used to trade secrets.