Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join the Chair in expressing words of condolences and sympathies on the passing of the late Des O'Malley. He was a little bit before my time. I served with his daughter, former Senator Fiona O’Malley, in the Oireachtas during my first round in the Dáil. This is the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and I note that the O’Malleys were steeped in education. The history of Des O’Malley’s late uncle, Donogh O'Malley, is well known by us all. There is a broad family of O’Malleys right across Limerick city and county. They are steeped in community and in politics. Interestingly, much of the media discussion has naturally centred on the establishment of the Progressive Democrats by Des O’Malley and others. Interestingly, not all of the O'Malley clan across Limerick followed Des O’Malley and joined the Progressive Democrats. Many of them stayed in Fianna Fáil. There was an extensive gathering of a few hundred of the O'Malley clan in Limerick recently, when times permitted, and that was one of the key features which was discussed by the extended clan. Politics unites, but it also divides, as we know.