How much sleep do you need?
Seven hours a night. It would catch up on me after a couple of weeks if I didn't get that much. I'd have to arrange a lie in on a weekend. I sleep the night and I'm not a disturbed sleeper.
Do you take much exercise? A good bit. I swim a lot, usually half a mile twice a week. When I'm in Dublin, I use the Marian College Pool. I just go in and pay the £2 like everyone else. When you're doing lane swimming at a set time in the evening it's usually the same people there and no one notices you. Sometimes when you are in, the shower they look at you and wonder, that who I think it is?" I prefer the sea. In that fine summer of 1995 I swam across the Shannon Estuary, one and a half miles from Clare to Limerick at Foynes. You swim in a V with the current, going in on the coming tide and out on the outgoing tide. It's quite choppy in the middle.
Are you an early morning person?
I'm in the office at 8.30 a.m., which means a 7.30 a.m. start. Life varies between Dublin and Limerick and so on a Monday or Tuesday when I'd be travelling up to Dublin I'd be up at 6.30 a.m.
Are you careful about what you eat?
No, not particularly. I eat everything. I'm a bit overweight but I don't worry as long as I stay fit.
Do you drink or smoke too much?
I quit smoking in 1972-73. I do drink socially, occasionally more than the recommended 21 units per week. I'm off the drink now until after the election.
Are there any foods you hate?
Three times. Once when I was a boy and broke my arm and spent the night in Limerick Regional shortly after it opened. A few years ago I spent four days in hospital for a minor surgical operation and another occasion I was in overnight in the course of a checkup.
Does your work make you stressed?
It makes me fatigued and tired rather than stressed. I need exercise and sleep. Sometimes if you keep going right through the weekends, you can start to feel very tired. I revive very quickly though.