Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I join other speakers in expressing my sympathy to Brian and his family on the death of a very good colleague. I was very privileged to have shared the constituency of Dublin South with Nuala Fennell. Much has been said, rightly, about the tremendous contribution she has made to Irish politics, especially social legislation. As Deputy Gilmore said, it was not an easy time for people to be engaged in campaigning on many sensitive social issues but Nuala was always very brave, courageous and professional in anything she ever did.

I would also describe Nuala as a lady. She was a very caring person and always had an interest in people. When I was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach with responsibility for European affairs, arts and culture and women's affairs, I was privileged to succeed Nuala Fennell who was very supportive of me at that time. It was unusual for a man to have such a position, but I was pleased to advance much of the work she had pioneered, in particular with regard to the equality proofing of legislation. She made a huge impact in anything she did. As a colleague, Nuala initiated ground-breaking work on equality and everything that has been said here is correct.

On a personal level, I met her a few times after she left politics and she often referred to the fact that life after politics could be very enjoyable. She did not have as many years with her husband, Brian, family and friends as we would have liked but she enjoyed every moment of her life with them. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis.

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