Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I join in the tributes to the late Eileen Desmond and extend the sympathy of the Sinn Féin Deputies to her family and her Labour Party colleagues. As has already been acknowledged by a number of speakers, she played a pioneering role as a woman in high political office. I am aware of the high regard in which she was held in her constituency and in the rest of County Cork. This, of course, was in recognition of the contribution she made in her local community and throughout County Cork and, it is important to acknowledge, to the advancement of the rights of women in Ireland. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.

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