Not all of those in York last week for the British Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body attended the sessions. The spouses, as they were called, had a sightseeing programme, but not all followed that either. Paddy Hayes, the Dublin businessman who is married to PD Senator Helen Keogh, spent much of the time in his room with his laptop. He is on the third draft of his first novel. The Unelected has no Irish connection; it's a Cold War thriller set in present-day Europe about a heroine dealing with the fall of communism. For 20 years Hayes says he has wanted to write a novel and gave himself until he was 55, two years hence. He spends about 20 hours a week on it and hopes it will be out next year. The Irish group flew by charter flight into RAF Linton on Ouse on Monday morning and that afternoon, before the conference started, three Fianna Failers, Conor Lenihan, John Ellis and Sean Doherty, took a taxi to see the Yorkshire Moors and happened upon Ampleforth College, the prestigious English public school run by the Benedictines. They had a tour and met some of the monks. They were not long returned to York when the story spread among the Westminster delegates that the three had been to visit their old school.
More amusement was caused by the large page three photo in the Yorkshire Evening Press of Rory O'Hanlon raising a glass of stout with the Lord Mayor, Derek Smallwood. The former FF minister is a well-known tee-totaler. He pointed out that he did not drink the alcohol, he merely raised a glass.