Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

On behalf of the Fine Gael Party, I extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to the Kenneally family, to Maureen, Billy's wife, to Brendan, Donal, Kevin, Patrick and Martin, to his brother Jackie and his sister Kathleen, and to the extended family for his passing some time ago.

These occasions arise for the families of Members of the Oireachtas. They are always occasions where people have lost a husband or wife, father, son or daughter as the case may be, and the constituents of the constituency and the place they represented have lost somebody who they returned on possibly numerous occasions. When one looks through the Dáil records, the Dáil books as they used be, and sees names of Deputies who stood up in these seats and said their piece on behalf of their constituents, in many cases one never knew them, one does not know their names or did not know much about them. Those who came into the House, except for representatives from the south east, may not have known Billy Kenneally.

I was here for 11 of his 16 years of service and as the Tánaiste pointed out, they were some of the most tumultuous occasions within the Fianna Fáil Party. Sometimes one would question whether they were all for the good of the country or for personal advancement or whatever. Often these corridors, the Ceann Comhairle will recall, were filled with determined people about issues that were being discussed and often I had words with the chairman of the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party at the time in those corridors and he used say, "How am I ever going to keep them all quiet when this starts again?", with the cameras were outside on the street until 1 o'clock or 2 o'clock in the morning.

Leaving aside his chairmanship of a party that was going through some robust times, Billy Kenneally was first and foremost a Waterford representative and represented the people of his city and county with commitment and diligence. He was never afraid to speak out in the way he did on the issues that were important to him, and that was reflected in his mayoralty of his native city. He had a deep sense of personal family pride that his father and himself, and his son Brendan, were all returned by the people of Waterford to represent them in this House and that is why this was one case where the family seat was always at issue. No doubt when election time would come, would be in sight or was sprung on people suddenly, as happened in 1973 or whatever, in the wider family group it was a case of everyone being on deck to do the business and letting the people make their judgment.

I recall Billy Kenneally speaking in the House on many occasions both from the Opposition and Government sides. He was a very fair minded man and he spoke out especially with regard to local issues in Waterford and issues he believed were important. I realise for Maureen and the family there is a sense of loss and it is the end of that era but, as a wife and mother, I am sure it is important for her and her family to know that her son is here to carry on the good work of her husband in so far as the people of Waterford allow it to happen. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. During my earlier years here I was pleased to have made the acquaintance of Billy Kenneally to discuss the mechanics of politics and how they worked both on his side and mine.

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