In any walk of life, it's very easy to judge people's actions in retrospect.

What I would rather see, what I think would be the best outcome, is a very close relationship between the United Kingdom and the E.U.

I have enormous respect for people who come from a strong family background in Fine Gael.

I think there should be a law that would allow the Oireachtas to take pensions away from people. That would go for corrupt politicians; it would go for public servants who failed miserably or were incompetent.

What I do now is I train in the mornings, and people ask me why I do it. I do it for two reasons: first of all, to keep in shape, but secondly, I think training, sport, and physical activity is really good for mental health.

Geographically, we are at the periphery of Europe, but I don't see Ireland in that way. The way I see us is as an island at the center of the world.