Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to welcome the Minister, Deputy Deenihan, to the Chamber and commend him on a very interesting paper he presented to us. I also welcome our distinguished guests and members of the Castledermot community. I know it well and have a brother-in-law living there. It is a source of pride to them to have an association with a key event in our history. Although I studied history, the event is not famously well known, and it is no harm that it should be elevated and highlighted here. The word "parliament" comes from the French word "parler", or, in its modern corruption "parley", to talk. Prehistoric man's idea of democracy was that the person with the biggest club was the boss and every conflict was resolved by seeing who could knock the most heads.