Fishmonger: ‘My mother would have been proud’

“It made me proud to be Irish, and to be a Corkman. My mother would have been so proud.”

That was the reaction from fishmonger Pat O’Connell yesterday as he reflected on his private audience with Queen Elizabeth before attending a reception for some 300 people at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, to celebrate the contribution made by Irish citizens in Britain.

The city’s unofficial ambassador was among a select group handpicked to attend a private audience with the queen before the main function. He said his late mother Kay, who established the family business in the historic English Market, would have been proud.