Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)

Ar son an Chomhaontais Ghlais, ba mhaith liom cur leis na focail mholta a dúradh i dtaobh Nuala Fennell. I did not know Nuala Fennell very well but I had the privilege of meeting her on many occasions, and I have for a very long time known and revered her work in public life and in politics. I admired Nuala Fennell's trail-blazing spirit back in the 1970s when she was among a cast of formidable women who made their mark in Irish public life. I revered her practical work to help women, especially those who were victims of family violence at a time when it was a taboo subject which many people pretended was not happening.

I admired her successful entry into politics as a woman candidate who was not part of a family dynasty. I note from her memoir, sadly published earlier this month and just weeks after her death, that in 1981 she found Leinster House to be "a strange male club which felt like a political locker room". But she was undaunted. As Minister of State with responsibility for women's affairs she had few resources and little back up but her practical side won out as she worked to abolish the concept of illegitimacy, to establish a mediation scheme for marriage conflict and to introduce legislation on citizenship and domicile.

Again, I could identify with her enterprising spirit after she left elected politics in 1992, as she collaborated in the successful firm, Political Lobbying. In sum, it was the brave and spirited women such as Nuala Fennell who ensured women ceased to be invisible in political life. She and the women activists with whom she collaborated did not always agree, but Nuala Fennell and her colleagues did make an enormous difference. That is why I am so very proud this afternoon to pay tribute to Nuala and her family on behalf of the Green Party, Comhaontas Glas.

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