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7.

Detta Collins

I met my late husband Padraic Collins in Boston in the seventies

where he was acting Consul General and I was working for Aer

Lingus in the US. We got married in New York where he was then

Deputy Consul General. We moved home in 1978 and our next

posting was Madrid. I had two children by then (one aged 2 years

and one 9 months) so it was a challenge for me having no Spanish.

We moved home after four years and Padraic was posted to

Maryfield Belfast. He was there for a further four years. Our next

posting was UN New York where Padraic was Deputy Head of

Mission. We moved home in 1994 and Padraic died six months later

at the age of 47. We had some lovely memories of our time In

Foreign Affairs but it was tough at times especially for the children

moving from school to school and country to country.

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