‘Then why do I feel so unhappy?’

‘Maybe you just need a few days to recharge your batteries. You’ve just buried your mother. I think you’re being a bit hard on yourself. I have a suggestion - and before I make it, I won’t take no for an answer. I’m taking Claire to Dublin this evening for a birthday treat. We’re going to see U2 tomorrow. I would like you and Annie to join us. The girls can have the U2 tickets and we’ll find somewhere else to go and put the world to rights. Come on, it will do you the world of good to spend some time with your old mate. These opportunities don’t come along very often, so what do you say?’

Cormac’s first instinct was to say no; to tell him he had to be back in England for some important ministerial work; to get out of Ireland again as quickly as possible. To get back to the familiarity of the life he had created for himself and Annie a long way away from here. Before he could speak, Annie and Claire were through the kitchen door and listening intently to Harry. The girls squealed, and before he could react, Annie flung herself at him and nearly knocked him of his chair.

‘That’s brilliant. Thanks, dad!’

He looked at Harry, who was grinning now.

‘I told you no was not an option!’

‘What’s it like?’

Annie had already packed and was standing over Cormac as he paced around the suitcase on the bed. It took him so long to recover from drinking these days that he often wondered if it was worth the bother. It clearly was, because he never once considered stopping. His years as a barrister ensured that abstinence was not an option. It was quite normal to find counsel in a local restaurant at lunch sharing a bottle or two of red wine with their opponents whilst the judge sat alone at the next table with his own bottle. He often felt that the rhetoric in court in the afternoon was much livelier for it. On more than one occasion, he had been forced to nudge a colleague whose head had slumped during an opponent’s speech or the judge’s closing. As for the politicians at Westminster, he often felt they made his legal friends appear rather tame.

‘dad!’

Her voice hurt his head.

‘What? And stop shouting, I’m right here!’

‘Well you were bloody miles away. I was only asking what Dublin was like as a place, though by the expression on your face since we agreed to go, I’m guessing it must be a shit-hole.’

He concentrated on his packing.

‘I have only been twice and on both occasions it certainly wasn’t a shit-hole, as you so eloquently put it. It is a beautiful and elegant city, full of life, and somewhere that I have often wanted to visit again. It’s just that I didn’t really agree to go. Harry bullied me into it, and I have lots of other things to be doing rather than traipsing off to Dublin for two days.’