Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Thar mo cheann féin agus thar ceann Páirtí an Lucht Oibre, is onóir dom é cúpla focal ómóis a rá faoi Thomás Mac Giolla - iar Theachta Dála, iar Ard-Mhéara Bhaile Átha Cliath agus iar uachtarán Páirtí na nOibrithe. Ba mhaith liom freisin comhbhrón a dhéanamh lena bhean chéile, May Mac Giolla, lena chlann agus lena chomhghleacaithe, atá bailithe linn inniu i nGailearaí na gCuairteoirí. Tá fáilte rompu.

Laoch an eite chlé ab ea Tomás Mac Giolla. Fear poblachtánach, sóisialach agus idirnáisiúnach ab ea é. Sheas sé lena bprionsabail i gcónaí. Bhí a fealsúnacht polaitíochta bunaithe ar poblachtánachas Wolfe Tone. Chreid sé nár leor aontacht tíre gan aontacht daoine freisin. D'oibrigh sé go chrua ar son an phobail, go háirithe na boicht agus iad atá thíos.

Tomás MacGiolla was a man of great principle and personal courage. He made a significant contribution to politics and public life, and perhaps his record did not always get the credit it deserved during his political career.

Tomás was born in Tipperary in 1924 and was a nephew of the Irish Parliamentary Party MP, T. P. Gill. He often said later that his family did not have any particular political allegiances but, if anything, leaned towards Fine Gael. Tomás went to the local Christian Brothers school and then on to St. Flanan's College in Ennis. He later went to UCD from where he graduated with a BA before taking a BComm at night. After graduation, he went to work with the ESB as an accountant where he spent 30 years until he left in 1977 to devote himself to full-time politics. He was proud of the role played by the ESB as a pioneering State company bringing electricity to rural Ireland.

His first real political involvement was with the anti-partition league in the late 1940s and his decision to join Sinn Féin was a natural progression from this. He was active in the republican movement during the 1956-1962 Border campaign, becoming a member of the Sinn Féin Ard Comhairle. He was interned for two years in the Curragh and later became one of the last people in this country to be sentenced to imprisonment by a military tribunal for refusing to account for his movements.

In 1962, he was elected president of Sinn Féin and was one of a group of people who recognised the absolute futility of the type of campaign waged by the IRA and who were determined that there would be a change of direction in the republican movement. Under his leadership during the 1960s, Sinn Féin became deeply involved in campaigning on such issues as housing, unemployment and the control of natural resources, and under his leadership, Sinn Féin abandoned its abstentionist policy in 1971.

Tomás was a republican in the tradition of Wolfe Tone. He was an early advocate of the civil rights strategy in Northern Ireland and a fierce opponent of sectarianism. He was shocked and appalled by the campaigns of sectarian violence that blighted Northern Ireland for so long.

As long ago as the summer of 1972, Tomás made a mould-breaking speech in Carrickmore, County Tyrone, in which he bluntly told his republican colleagues that the creation of a united Ireland would require, first, the uniting of the people of Ireland. In this, he was giving practical and contemporary expression to Wolfe Tone's wish for the unity of Catholic, Protestant and dissenter. At a time when the sectarian bombing campaign was at its height, he said that nobody should try to bomb a million Northern Protestants against their will into an all-Ireland republic. The great tragedy was that it took another 30 years for some to realise the wisdom of his assessment. Had more people listened to Tomás Mac Giolla in the late 1960s, 30 years of violence and more than 3,000 deaths in Northern Ireland might have been averted.

Although he was originally from Tipperary, Tomás lived most of his life in Dublin and he had a great love of has adopted city. He loved its traditions, its architecture, its literature and most of all, its people. I know that one of his proudest moments was his election as Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1993.

Tomás Mac Giolla was a champion of the poor and the disadvantaged and he fought for their interests with great vigour during his ten years as a TD for Dublin West. He knew the importance of education and often quoted the line from Thomas Davis, "Educate that you might be free." He believed that all citizens had a right to a job, to a place to live and to a decent health service.

Tomás was a great lover of Irish culture and the Irish language. He was a frequent contributor in Irish while he was here in the Dáil, but he was also an internationalist, who drew inspirations from the principles of the French revolution and who was as committed to the fight for justice in South Africa or Palestine as he was for it in Ballymurphy or Ballyfermot.

Tomás was a genuine radical. He thought deeply about political issues and only adopted political positions after he had considered all the options and thought the matter through fully, but once he adopted a position, he promoted and defended it with great vigour and absolute conviction. He was a believer in change who was so confident in his own beliefs and principles, that he himself was never afraid to change, to meet new circumstances, or simply to take account of the experiences from which he was always prepared to learn.

While he and I took different party political paths in recent years, I always retained great admiration and respect for Tomás Mac Giolla. I am proud to have served as a Dáil colleague of Tomás Mac Giolla, to have campaigned with him and to have learned from him. I will always remember him with admiration and affection.

Tomás Mac Giolla had a rather serious public image because the issues he dealt with every day were serious political issues. However, there was another side to him that the public did not always see. In private, he was great company, warm and witty, widely read and with a great interest in all aspects of life. Those attending his funeral heard an account from his godson and nephew, Tom Hogan, of a very different Tomás – a man with a great love of life, a great sense of humour, a passion for horse racing and a great affection for children.

Tomás and May Mac Giolla were one of the closest couples, personally and politically, that I have ever encountered. I want to welcome May to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery and members of the family and colleagues of Tomás and May.

On behalf of the Labour Party and on my behalf, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy to May, to Tomás's sister Evelyn and to his colleagues and friends on his passing.

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