Tearful Scenes As Macron Meets Mullingar Pen Pal From 1991 Junior Cert French

“BONJOUR Emmanuel. Comment ça va? Je m’appelle Eamon. J’habite en Irlande. J’habite en Mullingar, une plus grande ville. Ou habite tu?” read an emotional Emmanuel Macron at Áras an Uachtaráin yesterday, after finally meeting up with the Westmeath teenager who he corresponded with as a pen pal in the early 90s.

Eamon O’Mulligh, now 43, had forgotten that he used to write to a young Macron as part of his Junior Cert French studies, and was surprised to hear that the now-President of France wanted to meet him during his state visit to see if he still liked Top Of The Pops and had three brothers and no sisters.

“Eamon told me all about the beauty of Mullingar, and it helped me grow very fond of Ireland” said Macron, to a round of delighted applause.

“It is because of my love for the midlands that I have, on many occasions, urged my European colleagues to not demand that Ireland give up it’s criminally low corporation tax rate, leveling the playing field with the rest of Europe and almost certainly dooming this nation to several generations of economic destitution” he added, to a round of slightly more nervous applause.

Meanwhile O’Mulligh has admitted that he didn’t stick with the subject after his Leaving Cert in 1994, but he could still probably ‘hold his own’ in conversation if it came to it.

He then went on to pose for photos with Macron, before asking where the salle de bain was and assuring the president that his favourite colour was still purple.