Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Ba mhaith liom cur leis na focail atá ráite ag an Taoiseach agus an Teachta Kenny ar an lá brónach seo, lá bháis Séamus Brennan. Ba mhaith liom comhbhrón thar mo cheann féin agus thar cheann Pháirtí an Lucht Oibre a ghabháil le Ann Brennan, lena clann agus le comghleacaithe Shéamuis i Fianna Fáil agus sa Rialtas.

Today is a sad day for all of us, but particularly for the Brennan family as well as Séamus's Government colleagues and others in Fianna Fáil. Séamus Brennan has given his entire adult life to the service of his party, constituency and country. He was appointed general secretary of Fianna Fáil at the remarkably young age of 25 by the former Taoiseach, Jack Lynch. Since then, he served in the Seanad and Dáil, holding several ministerial offices with great distinction. Séamus Brennan was a rare political phenomenon: a politician of strong convictions, effective for his party and quietly partisan, yet an extremely likeable person. He managed to conduct his political business effectively but without rancour or animus, which is the way all of us will remember him.

My constituency and his adjoin each other, so it was inevitable that our care of constituents and dealings on various issues would sometimes overlap. I always had great admiration for the way in which Séamus served his constituents individually and dealt with issues that arose in his constituency. Sometimes, the constituency boundaries would change and on one such occasion I inherited two of his election workers. They needed no induction to the business of how to run an election, including campaigning and canvassing. They were the best I had seen in a long time.

We also shared our Galway origins and I always enjoyed discussing such matters with him, including football, hurling, politics or Galway people. He had a particular affiliation with the university in Galway, which he attended. The last time I met Séamus socially was at an event in NUIG a couple of months ago, where he was presented with an award by the university for his service to public life. He was enormously proud of the recognition that he got from the university on that occasion. While I had known he was ill and we all shared the struggle that he battled so bravely, I do not think any of us was to know on that occasion that his time would be short afterwards.

On behalf of the Labour Party I extend my sympathy to his wife Ann, to their children and to all his colleagues in Fianna Fáil.

See this speech in context