Tomas, if I could start with you, when did you first notice this, this sort of strange pattern of b- of, of kind of orders coming in, and, and what sort of form are they taking? Are they coming in at nighttime, or is there any, any, any kind of set pattern as to how these orders are coming in?

Yeah, uh, they all arrived at once, um, which is, uh, they come from a third-party supplier, um, who, who orders them, and that in itself isn't unusual.

Uh, they, we've been dealing with them for, you know, decades at this stage, and they, they order off us periodically, and they would occasionally, you know, there would be orders for hundreds of British history books or fiction or something where it's discernible and you can see how, you know, an academic library might be looking for this or something of that nature.

This happened in late May where we got a huge, came in one morning, had a huge number of orders that had happened overnight.

Um, they'd all been placed, they'd all been paid for, you know, or at least were, were in line to be paid.

And, and what, I suppose, ultimately sparked the concern then, or what con- ultimately sparked that, you know, this might be something, it's not just, say, a library in, in England or elsewhere buying these? What, what pricked your interest that this could be something, I won't say more sinister, but could something more calculated or something more deliberate?

Yeah.

Well, uh, what happened was I saw a colleague of mine in Sweden, uh, who's a, who's a similar sort of book operation in Sweden, posted online that he had received this, a similar order, but, but in Sweden and, and it was to do with Swedish language books.

How did you transition into the world of

television and broadcast in Ireland? You know, as I said, you work in lots of different things.

And one of the guys I worked with was a really good film, like TV for now.

And I just, you know, picked it up.

But how I really got into it is the manager of Eric Clapton in 1989, 90 said, Tom, I am so fed up of X, this person and that person coming over.

You better learn how to do television in 1991, 92.

And I was fortunate.

There's

How did you transition into the world of

television and broadcast in Ireland? You know, as I said, you work in lots of different things.

And one of the guys I worked with was a really good film, like TV for now.

And I just, you know, picked it up.

But how I really got into it is the manager of Eric Clapton in 1989, 90 said, Tom, I am so fed up of X, this person and that person coming over.

You better learn how to do television in 1991, 92.

And I was fortunate.

There's

Dixborough in general, though, have been there, they're about the last couple of years and you'll be looking to maintain those high standards.

Yeah, please, gotcha, that's all you want, you know, to keep going.

Yeah, and just, I suppose, enjoy each match as they come, you know, we know the challenge is going to come, so just take a week on week, you know, once it gets to round three, you'd forget about the first match you play, so just taking a week on week, yeah.

The first couple of weeks and getting a few wins under your belt, how important will that be?

I will, yeah, just to get, I suppose, get comfortable in the group or whatever.

It's a tough group we have.

John Lachlan's up first, so yeah, that'll be a tough one, all right.

But yeah, just trying to, I suppose, get a foothold in the group, yeah, and get a few wins together, yeah.

Is dóigh go Gaillimh, beidh siad ag súil go mbeidh Rory Burke agus Daithí Burke aclaí, Tom, mar, mar muna bhfuil Rory agus Daithí Burke aclaí, sin beirt a bheadh Gaillimh, you know, beirt spés cáilíontas mór do Ghaillimh.

Yeah, cáilíontas mór.

Bhí os úsáid, uh, Pierce St. Liam don chluiche sa sráid, em, mí feabhra, b'fhéidir.

Em, agus like, bhí, I think, bhí Cathal Mannion ag tógáil na pocanna saor agus bhí saghas, em, droch oíche aige agus díreach tar éis thosaigh Aaron Nolan, b'fhéidir, ag tógáil an t-íor, fuair sé ceithre nó cúig cinn as a chéile agus bhí siad ana-chóngar chun deireadh an chluiche, tá a fhios agam, ná go bhfuil siad sráid agus go bhfuil, you know, daoine, you know, imreoirí difriúil, áit difriúil agus rud cosúil leis sin, but, em, you know, beidh na beirt imreoirí sin, a dúirt tú, beidh siad cáilíontas mór do fhoireann na Gaillimhe, but ar an taobh eile de sin, you know, d'imir siad cré, cré na laoi, na Park and Croke ag, d'imir siad ann anuraidh sa chrioibh freisin.

Tá a fhios agam go bhuaigh cill cheannach anuraidh ach, you know, bhuaigh siad an corráin sin iomána, em, tá saghas taithí ag na foirne agus na himreoirí go léir le chéile i bPark and Croke ag, ach an taobh eile de sin, you know, saghas, uh, beidh William Buckley agus Barry Walsh, b'fhéidir, ag imirt i bPark and Croke ag, you know, nuair a bheidh siad lán an chéad uair, I'd say, agus is saghas, tá taithí difriúil ag na himreoirí agus, you know, tá na hardáin ana-mhór timpeall ort.

Em, tá an, an t-orainn ana-ard os na hardáin sin, so, em, b'fhéidir go mbeidh an, an, an taithí sin ag na Gaillimhe.

Beidh siad saghas, you know, cúpla, cúpla ceithre nó cúig, uh, faoin gcéad leis an fhoireann sin chun leanúint ar aghaidh.

[gháireach]

So, so when you were a kid and you loved Popeye, did you do the Popeye voice and that kind of Popeye mumble that he's always doing as he's walking and thinking?

Oh.

I loved that.

Yeah, that, that thing that, uh, Jack Mercer, the voice of Popeye.

You know, he was Popeye for, for 80 years or something.

You know, he was incredible.

And I also loved the, you know, the Looney Tunes, you know, Bugs and Daffy, of course, and, you know, Boynkle and Rocky, uh, were, were huge for me.

[laughs]