After a turbulent year, heart-warming footage has been shared on social media that shows even Covid can’t kill romance.
Midwife Clodagh Maher filmed the moment Conor O’Sullivan proposed to his train-driver partner Paula Carbó Zea as she pulled a Dart train into Pearse Station in Dublin on Tuesday evening.
“Didn’t think anything could perk me up after a busy 13hr shift, and some gent goes and PROPOSES to his GF driving the incoming train at Pearse Station,” she wrote.
O’Sullivan installed a series of signs along the platform that read ‘Will you marry me’ and stood at the end with a bunch of flowers, a bottle of champagne and the all-important ring.
Staff at the station were in cahoots with O’Sullivan and agreed to play “their song” James Blunt’s ‘You Make Me Better’ over the tannoy as the train pulled in.
Carbó Zea’s colleagues also installed a Go Pro camera in her cab to record her reaction to the magical moment.
While public proposals run the risk of rejection, assembled onlookers were delighted to witness Carbó Zea say yes.
“I was expecting something maybe for Christmas, but definitely not like that,” the bride-to-be told The Irish Times.
“I was so surprised.”
Carbó Zea, who is originally from Barcelona, moved to Ireland three years ago in response to a call from Irish Rail for more train drivers.
A trained engineer, she said she had always wanted to be a train driver, despite it traditionally being a more male-dominated profession.
“In Spain, it is more normal,” she said.
The happy couple met a month after she arrived in Ireland and have been together ever since.
“I wanted to improve my English, then I met him and I have stayed here,” she said.
“I love Ireland, but I wish it would rain less.”
Carbó Zea said she did not anticipate marrying until the summer of 2022.
Irish Rail spokesperson, Barry Kenny, said they were happy to facilitate the surprise proposal.
“It was all arranged last minute yesterday, but arranged very well,” he said.
