Can Daniel O'Donnell sing Rosario or The Blackboard of My Heart (as in My tears have washed I love you/from the blackboard of my heart)?
You see, his neighbour, Kincasslagh woman Sadie Sharkey, is singing sweeter than ever since she quit smoking early last year. She has come with her husband, Domnick Sharkey, and their four sons to the Shelbourne Hotel to receive the year's top Nicorette Stop Smoking Achievement Award. Her mother, Catherine Gillespie, and her two sisters, Mary Kearns from Westport, Co Mayo, and Rose Herron from Ballybuffet, Co Donegal, are here to join in the celebrations.
The runners-up are here too. Moss O'Connor, from Castlemaine in Co Kerry, who used to smoke 70 cigarettes a day, is here with his two sisters, Mary McGovern and Joan Carter, and friends, Eileen and Michael Murphy, while a Nenagh contingent includes runner-up Betty Moriarty with her husband, retired garda superintendent Pat Moriarty, and their daughter Patricia Moriarty of La Femme Beauty Clinique. Glass people, Gus Carey of Carey Glass in Nenagh, who has been in the business for 36 years, and his wife Colette, are also lending their support.
There is great applause for everyone. Claudia Carroll, of Fair City fame, and a reformed smoker herself, sings their praises. Other runners-up are Edward Reilly, from Timahoe, and farmer Donal Kelly from Affin, Kilmallock, Co Limerick who says it's all down to his daughter, Orlagh Kelly (11), who encouraged him to give up his habit, and he hasn't looked back since.