And Today's Special is.. a baby girl called Mary; RESTAURANT OWNER GER TAKES A LUNCHTIME DELIVERY.. OF NEWBORN.

Byline: PADDY CLANCY

RESTAURANT boss Ger Reidy left his customers singing for their suppers while he turned midwife to a woman giving birth outside his premises.

And within minutes he had delivered a bouncing baby girl in the back of an Opel Corsa - to a woman who works in a rival restaurant.

The father-of-three from Carney, Co Sligo, recalled the Sunday afternoon drama when he visited mother and baby Mary in Sligo General Hospital yesterday. Mum Oxana Murashkevych and partner Stan Okosyukivsky were being driven by a neighbour to the hospital when she felt the baby coming.

They stopped outside Laura's fish restaurant and pub and the neighbour dashed in for help.

Ger said: "It was about 4.30pm and people were still having Sunday lunch. I was about to check how Padraig Harrington was doing in the golf on the TV when I heard the commotion. I raced out and there was a fair bit of panic.

"I've never delivered so much as a cat or a mouse before but I thought somebody had to take control. I said to Stan we'll get stuck in here and get it sorted."

Ger told Oxana to get her trousers down, called for two clean table cloths from his restaurant and delivered the newborn. The 51-yearold restaurateur added: "I was on my knees on the gravel leaning into the car and Oxana was giving birth on the back seat. It was over in no time at all."

Ger remembered seeing a birth on television and he asked his wife Geraldine to fetch two clothes pegs in case they were needed while cutting the umbilical cord. But by now he was receiving instructions over the phone from the labour ward at Sligo General Hospital and was advised not to cut the cord.

Instead, he turned Oxana on her back and placed her newborn infant on top of her.

An ambulance crew took over when they arrived 10 minutes later.

Oxana, 40, and Stan, 42, both from Ukraine, have been living in the area for five years.

Oxana works as a waitress in a rival restaurant a few kilometres away. They have two other children - a nine-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter.

Irish Mirror Comment: Page 10

CAPTION(S):

RELAXED Ger Reidy outside his restaurant Laura's DELIGHTED Oxana and Ger in the hospital yesterday SAFE & SOUND Oxana Murashkevych with baby Mary and 'midwife' Ger Reidy