Martin makes confidence & supply vow
Micheal Martin OPPOSITION leader Micheal Martin has insisted his party wants to honour and fulfil the confidence and supply deal with the Government.
The Fianna Fail chief spoke out just days after he called Taoiseach Leo Varadkar “prickly” and “authoritarian”.
Yesterday, Mr Martin said: “We are very clear we want to honour and fulfil the confidence and supply agreement.
“I’m very clear that we are willing to engage in Budget negotiations and we will.”
Asked about his party’s position on the Irish border, he added: “We should plan for every scenario”.
“It makes sense and is prudent to always prepare for every eventuality.” MND victim Billy Reilly Billy and Billy Jnr A BRAVE dad with motor neurone disease is leaving behind a piece of his personality for his family by recording his favourite one-liners while he still has his voice.
Billy Reilly, who was diagnosed in August 2015, is now in a wheelchair with little use of his legs but can still use his arms and hands.
The 47-year-old from Naul in Co Dublin, features in compelling new documentary Broken Brain, where he is seen taking part in a clinical trial for a drug to help MND sufferers even though he knows it may be too late to save him.
The Gaa-mad dad of three is filmed wryly smiling as he methodically records quips and sayings into a tiny recorder.
When he heard the words motor neurone disease uttered by his specialist nearly three years ago, Billy instantly knew what he was facing.
He said: “I remember saying, ‘This is a death sentence’. I knew.”
His wife Sharon, who immediately set her thoughts towards finding treatment, tells of how her husband gently told her he couldn’t be cured.
She recalled: “I was going, ‘That’s grand, we’ll get something’. It just didn’t hit me. It was Billy who said, ‘I can’t win this fight’.
“I looked at the specialist and he just shook his head and said, ‘No’.
Sharon explained his first thought was for their children, daughters Lauren and Rebecca and son Billy.
BOMB
She added: “How do you tell them? It’s like a bomb hits you. It just takes over everything. It’s in complete control. It changes every single thing.”
MND affects one in 30,000 Irish people every year and My Broken Brain reveals more than 700,000 people here suffer from some form of neurological condition.
It also follows people with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and epilepsy to see how they cope in their daily lives.
Throughout the documentary, Billy is seen smiling as he watches his son playing football, doing the crossword with his family and taking part in a clinical trial to try and help with his breathing.
And heartbreakingly, he tells of feeling the loss of his role in the family which has been taken on by his wife and children as the condition progressed.
He said: “I’m in here and I’m looking at Sharon’s taking out bins, Rebecca, my daughter cuts the grass now out in the garden. That’s when it hits you.”
Billy is also seen recording his favourite phrases for when he no longer has a voice and his Dublin wit comes out in phrase after phrase.
“Who took me remote control? Jaysus, Laura close the door will ye. Jaysus I’d run faster than that meself.”
He explained: “I want to leave something behind. People say make video but I would rather just me voice to remember me.”
■ My Broken Brain will be shown on RTE One next Tuesday at 9.35pm
ON BEING DIAGNOSED WITH MND
in every 30,000 Irish people are diagnosed as having MND
I remember saying, ‘This is a death sentence’, I knew
BILY REILLY