Ciao about that for an excuse!

Solicitor Martin Cosgrove will be like Robert De Niro in the Bananarama lyrics - talking Italian - but Mr. Cosgrove isn"t the one who"s waiting! Regardless of how he fares in his Junior Cert Italian exam, Mr. Cosgrove has already got full marks for originality in the eyes of Judge Conal Gibbons, who was impressed with the exam sitting as the reason for Mr. Cosgrove"s absence from Cavan District Court last Thursday. When a case of Mr. Cosgrove"s was called, solicitor Larry Burke informed the court that his colleague was absent because he was sitting his Junior Cert Italian that morning. After clarifying this information with Mr. Burke, Judge Gibbons told the court of another legal practitioner, who learnt Italian so he could read Dante, author of the Divine Comedy. 'I don"t think he"s reached that stage,' smiled Mr. Burke, but the judge was impressed. 'He"s a great man,' said Judge Gibbons of Mr. Cosgrove. 'I have to give him full marks... That"s the best excuse ever I"ve heard for not being in court.' The judge asked Mr. Burke to convey his best wishes to the studious solicitor, who, the court heard, is learning the language for 'personal fulfillment'. 'I hope he gets full marks in the exam,' concluded Judge Gibbons.