Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am honoured to pay a warm and well deserved tribute to the late Larry McMahon. I welcome his family, who are with us in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery, his children Ronan, Lorcan, Claire, Niamh, Conor and Ciarán, as well as his sister, Sister Pascal. They could be making this tribute today because they know better than anyone else how passionately Larry McMahon believed in politics and in his community. They can measure the commitment he showed on so many occasions when he had to leave home to attend to his public duties, spending nights over the years solving or attempting to solve problems in his community, or when he sought support and votes in rain, hail or shine. The public business was his business and he did it extraordinarily well.

Larry McMahon represented the people of Tallaght for more than three decades. They know that he always did that work with passion and diligence as well as with a considerable degree of grace and good humour. His absolute belief in public service and in the party that he served made it a pleasure to work with him. His passing was marked by a genuine regret and personal sadness by all of us who knew him. Many Members in this and the previous Dáil may not have known him, but we always pay tribute in this House to those who served the nation in their own way.

Larry McMahon was a great Christian in word and by example. He certainly was not afraid to voice his Christian beliefs and to stand up at parliamentary party meetings in the 1980s when serious social issues were being discussed and debated throughout the country. All who knew him will appreciate that he lived his religion, being a kind, generous and thoughtful man.

His wife Ursula — go ndéanadh Dia trócaire uirthi — died last year and life changed utterly for Larry. He missed her desperately and those who knew him well said that once she passed on, he made up his mind to follow her as soon as he could. Anyone who saw them together knew that they were the epitome of two people who really loved each other. In the midst of the excitement of a big match in Croke Park last year, he said to me that while it was a wonderful occasion, he was not a happy man. It was perfectly obvious why that was the case.

We have lost a loyal colleague and an exemplary public servant, but Larry's family here have lost a terrific father, a loving brother and a true friend. I offer them the sincere sympathy of the Fine Gael Party, which their father and brother served so well. On behalf of the House, we offer that sympathy to the family. He had a great sense of occasion and for such a proper Christian, paying tributes to him on Ash Wednesday of all days would be something for him.

In such a material world, Lent is a time when we get to think about the big questions. Who are we and why are we here? On this Ash Wednesday, it is safe to say that Larry McMahon, with a head start on all of us, probably knows the answer to both questions. The House and politics are less for his passing. In paying tribute to him, Larry McMahon's family will appreciate far better words than mine, which were written by T.S. Eliot to commemorate Ash Wednesday:

Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood

Teach us to care and not to care

Teach us to sit still

Even among these rocks,

Our peace in His will

And even among these rocks

Sister, mother

And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,

Suffer me not to be separated

And let my cry come unto Thee.

God bless you Larry. We appreciate your public service. I hope you are in heaven.

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