Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am particularly pleased that Senator Denis Landy and my friend and colleague Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú mentioned the news about the pardon for Harry Gleeson. The House may be surprised - the two Senators mentioned may equally be surprised - to hear that I had an indirect association with the tragic case in that I knew one of the daughters of Mary "Moll" McCarthy who was also known as Mary McCarthy and a long-term resident in the Royal Hospital in Donnybrook. She has since passed on to her eternal reward. How did I become associated with her? At the time I was presenting a radio programme on RTE and she was a big fan of country music, particularly Brendan Shine. My production assistant, Ms Maggie Stapleton, and I used to visit her regularly. She was bedridden and never talked about the night of the murder. She had confided in a nurse who used to tend to her regularly but very little specific information emanated from these conversations. During the time I was visiting her I was not aware of her background, even though we had talked to her about her family and her background in County Tipperary. We received no information specific to the murder. As she was in the house on the night her mother was murdered, she knew what had happened, even though she was only a young child. Marcus de Búrca made contact with me at the time when he was writing his book in the early 1990s and I remember interviewing him a couple of times on radio. I am particularly pleased, therefore, that Harry Gleeson has been exonerated. Once I became aware of the story and its detail, it was perfectly obvious that there were other forces at work. As Senator John Whelan said in the context of the case of Fr. Niall Molloy, Senators Denis Landy and Labhrás Ó Murchú know that there are people in the area who know what happened that night. Ar dheis Dé go raibh an anam.

Will the Leader convey to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, on the ongoing discussion and debate about the proposed takeover of Aer Lingus by IAG, that I have come from a meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications at which we received evidence from Virgin Atlantic? Virgin Atlantic is one of the stakeholders involved in considering the impact a takeover would have on the business, but of more concern is the fact that there is an interline agreement between Aer Lingus and Virgin Atlantic. Aer Lingus is the main feeder airline of the significant numbers of Irish consumers who are accessing transatlantic and long haul flights out of three UK airports - Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow. More importantly, they promote packages which involve travel to Ireland with Virgin Atlantic, which is boosting the economy. Irrespective of what happens, if the outcome of the discussions is a takeover of Aer Lingus by IAG, it is certain that the interline agreement will disappear, which would have detrimental effects for the tourism industry. In that context, Virgin Atlantic is contacting the European Commission. I ask the Leader to convey to the Minister that the issue of interline agreements has been raised. In the ongoing discussions with IAG and Aer Lingus, if the takeover goes ahead, the interline agreement should remain as it is in the interests of the consumer, the economy and the vitally important tourism industry.