MIRIAM LORD'S WEEK:TWO BIG events for Kerry Senators this week. The first, a sad one; the second, a very happy occasion.

Popular Fianna Fáil Senator Ned O’Sullivan saw the closure of his family’s menswear business in Listowel, which has been turning out dapper Kerrymen for generations. John B Keane would buy his suits from nobody else, and Ned has been known to keep his Seanad vote sweet by dispatching silk ties to councillors around Ireland at Christmas.

Ned is stepping out of the fashion business to concentrate on politics.

Killarney’s Paul Coghlan, who is Fine Gael’s whip in the Seanad, couldn’t wait to tell the chamber he was at CIÉ’s International Awards of Excellence the previous night in the Shelbourne Hotel, where Leo Varadkar presented awards to 12 winners from the Kingdom. “Remarkable” said Paul, making sure to get it down on the Seanad record.