John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

I was very saddened to hear about the death of Séamus Brennan, a very good colleague in the Government. I convey my deepest sympathy on behalf of the Green Party to his wife Ann and his children, and to his colleagues in the Fianna Fáil Party.

Séamus Brennan had a very distinguished political career and made a great contribution to Irish public life. I got to know him very well when I was a Whip in the Opposition. That period formed my impression of the man. He could not have been more generous with his time, and he facilitated me with any requests that were made. That built up a relationship and it has been rightly said that he played an important role in the formation of this Government. In fact, he played the pivotal role in the formation of this Government. Throughout my time in the Opposition, he always made a point of saying to me "whatever you do, do not close any doors". He repeated that over and over again. Eventually the message got through and we did not close any doors.

After the last election, he got my mobile phone number and constantly sent me texts. Eventually we spoke on the phone and I began to realise that the offers of negotiation were serious. We ended up in Government buildings and Séamus Brennan greeted the Green Party team with the immortal words, "you are playing senior hurling now lads". He added ominously, "but you are playing with lads with All Ireland medals".

He was a model of wisdom, courtesy, calmness, total reliability and modesty. When he was Government Chief Whip and getting great press, I remember saying to him "Séamus, it seems that you are now a political star". He said "John, there are no stars in politics". It is a lesson we could usefully learn today. We are here to do a job and he did that job. He knew he was here to serve the public and he did that with total reliability, which was borne out by the fact that he topped the poll time and again.

People are genuinely saddened today. Sitting beside him in Cabinet and watching him fight that illness was a difficult experience for all of us. He did so with great dignity. He never complained. He was a campaigning TD to the very last and served his constituents with total dedication. It is with a genuine feeling of sadness that I come to the House today on behalf of my party to say ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.

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