Opening the 20th plenary session of the British-Irish InterParliamentary Body, Northern Secretary, Peter Mandelson explained that if he hadn't suspended the Assembly, it would have collapsed, and so been far harder to reconvene. He was not in breach of the Belfast Agreement, but had acted "with a heavy heart" to save it. Not all the backbenchers accepted his argument and accused him, as Britain has done in the past, of implementing a Unionist veto.
Answering questions afterwards from Deputy Cecilia Keaveney on deprivation in the north-west, he grinned broadly and said "Donegal has a special place in my heart". What did he mean? Well Mandelson was in Ramelton over the millennium, in the holiday home of BBC broadcaster Sean Rafferty for a few days R and R. The visit made the Northern papers, but the rigmarole about how he caused a security alert by going to another house for a bath when the water-heating broke down was denied. He obviously has fond memories, however.