I'll tell me Ma when I go to Taiwan

Did you know that there is an Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Society?

Well, there is, and the Irish wing flew out to Taipei earlier this month for a fact-finding visit and to meet Taiwan’s President Ma.

The chairman of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, Fianna Fáil’s John McGuinness, is also chairman of the friendship society and he led the seven-strong delegation on the trip.

Also travelling were Fine Gael deputies Peter Mathews and Derek Keating and Senator Joe O’Reilly, Labour TD John Lyons and Senator Jimmy Harte and Fianna Fáil TD Robert Troy.

We hear Cavan’s Joe O’Reilly, who fancies himself as something of a stand-up comedian, was the star of the show and made a great impression on President Ma Ying-jeou.

Ma remarked that Chairman McGuinness also visited in January of last year, but he was unable to meet him at that time as Taiwan was in the midst of a presidential election campaign.

According to the Taiwanese government’s website, the president “noted, however, that he immediately received a congratulatory message from Chairman McGuinness after he was elected to another term, adding that he was deeply touched by this gesture”.

The visitors were looked after splendidly by their hosts, who, in turn, were entertained by the gag-a-minute O’Reilly.

Joe also led the singing during a visit to a school, he helped hand out the communion when the delegation attended Mass in the capital and didn’t baulk when offered a goblet of pig wine at an official reception.

But it was his joke involving unsold toilet paper and a salesman trying to sell toothbrushes to a Cavan shopkeeper (relayed through interpreters) which had his audience of Taiwanese VIPs rolling in the aisles.