"Travis toiled and toiled and played loads of shows. Record company people started coming to see us and passed on us again and again and again. Hopes were raised and dashed for 6 years. Some friends of mums, would occasionally ask her how I was getting on and she would always proudly say he was still doing his band… “Ohh really,” they would say. “That’s nice.” Because there was no man in our house, my uncle Martin took me aside one day and gave me the “ Do you realize you will have to look after your mum, son.” Speech. “I think maybe you should think about a proper job.”
Around that time, my girlfriend and I had a conversation along the lines of her saying “ You know Franny, what you’re doing with the band it totally impractical… The chances of you getting a deal are so remote blah blah bah…” For a second I agreed with her but then suddenly the penny dropped. I told her that actually what she was doing was maybe impractical, afterall, she didn’t know what she wanted to do but had chosen a course in Politics Philosophy and Economics because, well, she had to choose something… I told her, even though my chances of success were miniscule it didn’t matter. I had no choice. I had found what I had to do. I had found my vocation- my calling.

So

In accepting this honorary degree today I want to congratulate you all on yours and hope that, if it hasn’t happened already, at some stage, however impractical, however crazy, however far down the road it drags you, you get your calling too.
Thankyou."

Francis Healy.