The Cabinet could have thanked one of their number for the style in which they held their first regional meeting, in Ballaghadereen, Co Roscommon, but they probably didn't know the story. In Dillon House, the old home of James Dillon, the AG Michael McDowell was reminded of his uncle, Brian MacNeill.
At UCD, Dillon and MacNeill were friends. When the Civil War was at its height and his father, Minister Eoin MacNeill, was holed up in government buildings, Brian joined the republican side and became commander of the IRA in Sligo where he captured an armoured car and created such mayhem that Gen Sean MacEoin was forced to send in half an army to finish him off. He was shot dead on the top of Ben Bulben.
During the period, Dillon was worried that the family home and shop in Ballaghadereen would be burned to the ground - it was occupied by both sides at various stages. He wrote in his memoirs, as recounted in Maurice Manning's biography, that it was his old friend Brian MacNeill who persuaded the republicans to spare the town.