I was publishing the Irish Post at the time and everyone said that I had to support him, as he was a great friend of the Irish from his days on the Greater London Council from 1981-1986. However, nothing was going to make me go in the opposite direction more than people telling me what I had to do.

I chaired the Irish mayoral hustings, and gave him a dreadful time because I felt, of all the candidates, he would get the easiest ride and I didn't want him to get an automatic vote, just because of his past history. He promised that if he was elected, he would ensure that London had its own St Patrick's Day festival in the city centre and he got a lot of stick for that in the media, with, for example, the Evening Standard printing something derogatory along the lines of "Red Ken will close London for the Paddies".

When he was elected he was true to his word and I was asked to come down and work with him on the organisation of the first St Patrick's Day festival on 17 March 2002. It took over Trafalgar Square in the heart of London, and was an absolutely wonderful occasion. It was an incredibly emotional day for me, seeing 100,000 people there, and I think Ken enabled Irish people living in London to feel very proud of their culture and heritage for the first time. The festival has grown enormously over the years and I feel I've been very lucky to work with Ken on it . . .

and the closer we've worked together, the more I've come to admire the man. I don't always share his views, but I just love the fact that he stands up for what he believes in and works so democratically.

I think you very rarely come across someone in his position who stands by their convictions the way he does, usually because they are seeking to be re-elected or want to be more highly regarded. An example of this is the congestion charge he introduced in 2003, a daily charge paid by cars that enter the central London zones during the day from Monday to Friday. Lots of people thought he was crazy to introduce this charge, as it would make him unpopular and he mightn't be elected again, but whether it's uncomfortable or not, he has always stood by what he believes in. And he was reelected as mayor in 2004, standing as the official Labour Party candidate.

Ken is such a powerful speaker around how different cultures have come to together to become part of the rich tapestry of London. He opened up the city, and made lots of people from different cultures feel very comfortable in coming out and celebrating their ethnic backgrounds. He got lots of people on board, with different activities and festivals such as the anti-racism music festival Rise:

London United, a Jewish Hannukah ceremony at City Hall and the first ever Eid in the Square festival to mark the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting.

I find Ken to be a very comfortable man to talk to . . . he's very clever and intelligent with a great sense of humour. He very rarely travels, no matter what invitations are extended to him, because he prefers to go home to his partner Emma and two small children, Thomas and Mia.

I love London, but of course my heart is in Dublin because it's my home and I grew up there. I often think that when you live in a capital city, there's a lot of political correctness around about not wanting to be, for example, Dublin-centric. But if I have passion about anything, it would be to regenerate the city and develop a sense of pride among those of us living here, much the way Ken has done with Londoners. There are very few festivals and days out in Dublin that aren't commercial ventures, such as pop concerts, and I'd be delighted if more could be done to celebrate the actual city.

Ken has a really strong agenda around green issues and I'm full of admiration at the way he has introduced measures to get people to use public transport more, and encourages cycling rather than driving. It's the sort of thing that you'd love to see in Dublin, where we have our token "No Car Day" which most people ignore, while Ken has succeeded in closing London for the whole day to traffic, as well as successfully reducing congestion in general. I'd really love it if we had a directly-elected mayor too, somebody who was outside the political arena and didn't have to worry about politics and re-elections. The argument has always been that people might just choose pop stars, for example, but I think that Irish people are very astute and would choose somebody who was fiscally aware and whose sole concern was improving the city and developing better transport and integrated systems.

I think Ken's a great risk-taker and, while that sounds like he might be a maverick, he's actually very solid and is a sound businessman. I think he manages to combine being a risk-taker with a very strong social conscience. . . ensuring that the environment is protected and different cultures are celebrated.

It's for all of these reasons that I really admire Ken and feel that he's very much his own man . . . and there's a lot to be said for that in this day and age.