Spreading the good word in sunny Seville

LIKE A LOT of the best ideas, it is first talked about over the load music and a couple of drinks.

Kevin Lenane stood in the usual spot in the The Merchant — an Irish pub in the centre of Seville. Just around the corner the busy bus station is shuttling tired professionals home for the night after a run-of-the-mill Tuesday in the city. Inside the city’s most popular Irish bar however, it’s St Patrick’s Day, 2009. And grand plans are hatched.

Lenane puts his drink on the bar, leans in to make himself heard above The Pogues and broaches a subject that’s been on his mind, with half of a dozen of his fellow ex-pats.