I support the request made by Senator Fiach Mac Conghail for tributes to be paid to Brian Friel. I recall attending the first production of "Dancing at Lughnasa" in the Abbey Theatre and I walked out stunned. It was something completely new and revolutionary. There was a statement which is still ringing in my head all these years later. Mr. Friel was a prolific writer whose plays included "Translations" and "Philadelphia, Here I Come!" He wrote 24 plays and many other learned pieces.

Bearing in mind that he, John Hume and Seamus Heaney attended the same college in Derry, it shows how close we are on this island. They all considered themselves to be Irish and we consider them to be great Irish people. Taken together with our new Nobel Prize winner, we have great people in the North, of whom should be very proud.