Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

On behalf of the Fine Gael Party I extend my sincere sympathy to the family of the late Liam Lawlor, his wife, Hazel, his sons, Niall, Gerard and Shane, and his daughter, Ciara. The name of Liam Lawlor is synonymous with political controversy and equally synonymous with the Fianna Fáil Party.

I will say a few words today about Liam Lawlor, not the politician or former member of the Fianna Fáil Party but the individual. I knew him for many years from his election to this House in 1977 and while he and I had different political agendas and views, on a personal basis he and I enjoyed a close relationship, principally because of a mutual interest in sport. The Taoiseach will recall the first visit to Islington by a team from this House, attended by between 4,000 and 5,000 people, intended to break down suspicions and build relationships with the British House of Commons. Liam Lawlor was a central figure on that team. I remember competing with him in the "Superstars" of the day, running around the steeplechase course at Belfield. He shouted from behind me it was worse than the Grand National. I recall playing in a charity golf event with him in Luttrellstown where we were lucky enough to win second prize, a bottle of wine. When the names were called out to receive this unique gift, he said they would not know whether to laugh or cry.

He was a larger than life character, obviously adored by his family to whom he was so devoted. Anyone here who knew Liam Lawlor well knew what a family man he was and those feelings were reciprocated because when I visited the Lawlor house the night before he was buried, I met a family numbed with loss. The sadness of his passing so far from home shocked them to the core. The immediate and wider Lawlor family, close-knit as they are, can never be the same again now he has gone.

Personally, Liam Lawlor was a kind and generous man. In the days after his death, I am sure his family searched the acres of news print to find a trace of the father, husband and brother they knew and loved so well. When James Joyce was working as a journalist for an Italian newspaper, he wrote about the Irish and how, despite our political differences, we never failed to show great reverence for the dead. Today, being sensitive to the great love and respect Liam Lawlor's family had for him, the Fine Gael Party wishes to show that reverence and to keep that tradition. Mar níor bhris focal maith fiacal riamh, guím suaimhneas síoraí ar a anam dílis.

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