No, he's not a slave driver, they attest. No, really. Andy Pollack, director of the Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh and formerly of this newspaper, has called us together for a social engagement at . . . at . . . 9.30 a.m. Some partygoers are only falling into their second sleep. The riverside door of the Morrison hasn't yet been unlocked. Supreme Court judge, Justice Catherine McGuinness, waits in the early morning sunshine for admittance to the breakfast engagement.
Inside, Monaghan woman Patricia Clarke and her colleague at the Centre for Cross Border Studies, Mairead Hughes, from Armagh, give nothing away. They are happy with their boss. "We'll not say anything bad about him," says Hughes, laughing. Pollack himself is immaculate in pale yellow, overseeing, as editor, the official launch of a three-part series on the economy, multi-culturalism and human rights.
"Andy's little green books", as Judge McGuinness calls them when she officially launches the Cross Currents series, will provide "something to read when you are stuck in the bus when you can't get the train".
It's amazing how many people are up and about at such an hour. The British ambassador, Sir Ivor Roberts, attends, as does Tim O'Connor, joint secretary of the North-South Ministerial Council. Also present in the Morrison's Zen-like Garden Room is Prof John Bradley, of the ESRI, author of one of the essays in the series, and his econometrics colleague, Prof Denis Conniffe. It's the perfect setting to talk about matters of importance over coffee with trays of croissants, Danish pastries and pains au chocolats.