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Antisocial Dáil hours are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to extraordinary demands made on TDs’ time, writes SARAH CAREY

DURING ONE of the Lisbon referendums, John Bruton, then the EU’s ambassador to the US, was home on a family visit. Someone asked him whether he’d address a local Fine Gael branch on the subject of the treaty. I tagged along to the meeting in a local pub, and it was well worth it. He put the treaty into an impressive political context, comparing the European Union to other political unions from history and throughout the world today.